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HERE’S JUGGINS 


By Amy Wentworth Stone 


P-PENNY AND HIS LITTLE RED CART 
here’s JUGGINS 


TREASURE FOR DEBBY 




So Juggins sat on the doorstep beside Daddy 
















HERE’S JUGGINS 


BY 

AMY WENTWORTH STONE 


n 


PICTURES BY 


HILDEGARD WOODWARD 


/ 



> > > 
> > 

» > * 

> _ ? 


1936 

LOTHROP, LEE AND SHEPARD COMPANY 

Boston New York 













Copyright, 1936, 

By LOTHROP, LEE AND SHEPARD COMPANY 



* 


Printed in the United States of America 


JUL171936 


TO MY FRIEND 

LUCILE GULLIVER 






CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I 

The Surprise. 

PAGE 

• 15 

II 

Barney’s Pockets. 

26 

III 

Where Is Geraldine? .... 

• 35 

IV 

Cunners for Cats .... 

. 46 

V 

Juggins Sells the Lobsters . 

• 57 

VI 

The Lobster Roast .... 

. 67 

VII 

Who Is the Red Robber? . 

• 77 

VIII 

What They Found on Mad Cap . 

. 87 

IX 

Several Things Happen 

. 98 

X 

Little Orphan Annie Goes to a Party 

. 106 

XI 

Something in a Shell .... 

. 116 

XII 

“It Looks Like Tom” .... 

. 126 

XIII 

The Red Robber at Last 

• 135 

XIV 

Adrift. 

• 143 

XV 

The Boat is Launched 

• 153 





ILLUSTRATIONS 

So Juggins Sat on the Doorstep beside 

Daddy Frontispiece 

“Oh ! Oh !” He Squealed. “Something’s Got Hold 
of My Line ’’ 5 i 

There in Jim Bass’s Hand Was Geraldine 8i 

She Clasped Little Orphan Annie tight around 
the Middle hi 

The Other Fishermen Were Walking around the 
Boat 127 

The Dory and the Bell Buoy Went Up and Down 149 





CHAPTER I 


THE SURPRISE 

Juggins lived in a little fishing village called Blue 
Harbor, in the littlest house in the village. It had two rooms 
and four windows and a door, and a little green pump in the 
kitchen, where she washed her face and hands every morn¬ 
ing. Her real name was Lucy Belle Tibbetts, but her Daddy 
called her Juggins because he said that she was as brown and 
round as a little brown jug. 

Her Daddy, big Tom Tibbetts, was a fisherman, and so 
was Juggins. Behind the house by the road was a board 
sign, which said: 

T. TIBBETTS 

FRESH LOBSTERS—LIVE OR BOILED 

and under it was nailed a small shingle, reading: 

L. B. TIBBETTS 
CUNNERS FOR CATS— 

NICE FAT SNAILS AND ANGLE WORMS 

FOR FISHER MEN 


15 


16 HERE’S JUGGINS 

Every summer morning Juggins and Daddy rowed out 
of the harbor in the big dory, to pull their lobster traps, 
and when it rained Juggins wore a little sou’wester and a 
slicker just like Daddy’s. 

Here is a picture of one of Juggins’ lobster traps, just 
after she and Daddy had dropped it over the side of the dory, 



down to the bottom of the ocean, where the lobsters crawl 
around. Juggins and Daddy were up in the dory on top of 
the water, at the other end of that rope, and they were tying 
it to a little stick of wood, called a lobster buoy, so that they 
would be able to find the trap right away when they came 
out the next day to pull it up. 

There must have been a lot of lobsters in it when they 
pulled it, for they are beginning to go in through the little 


























THE SURPRISE 17 

round door. Juggins had put a piece of fish inside that 
smelled very good, and big lobsters, middle-sized lobsters 
and baby lobsters all went walking in. They did not know 
that the little round hole was a trap door, and that when 
they were once inside they could never get out again until 
Juggins and Daddy came to open the trap. Juggins always 
felt sorry for the baby lobsters. 

“They are so little,” said Juggins, “I don’t like to have 
anybody boil them and eat them up.” 

So when she helped Daddy take the lobsters out of the 
traps Juggins always stood up in the dory and threw the 
babies back into the water, as far away from the traps as 
she could. 

One morning when Juggins woke up she remembered, 
even before she opened her eyes, that something nice was 
going to happen. On Mondays after breakfast she always 
took lobsters up to Madame Eliot’s big gray cottage on the 
hill, and Madame Eliot had told her that the next time she 
came up with the lobsters she would find a surprise waiting 
for her. For a whole week Juggins had been thinking about 
that surprise, and wondering what it could possibly be. 
Daddy had had a twinkle in his eye, as if he knew all 
about it. 


18 HERE’S JUGGINS 

“Is it a real surprise?” said Juggins to Daddy, “or is it 
just a nice fat banana?” 

But Daddy would not say a word. 

And now it was Monday morning. 



Juggins pushed back her patchwork quilt and sat up in 
bed. The little bare room was full of bright sunshine, and 
Daddy’s bed in the other corner was empty. He must be 
getting breakfast now. Juggins could hear something siz¬ 
zling on the wood stove in the kitchen, and there was a jolly 



THE SURPRISE 


19 

smell of fried cunners all through the little house. Cunners 
are little fish that smell ever so good when they are cooking 
for breakfast. Juggins peeked over the foot of the bed into 
the kitchen. She did not see Daddy, but she saw something 
else. The little pans which she and Daddy had put on the 
floor the night before, under the leaks in the roof, had water 
in them. It must have rained in the night. 

“Oh, goody!” said Juggins. 

Sometimes when it rained the wind blew on one side of 
the roof, and then the rain came down through the leak at 
the foot of Daddy’s bed; and sometimes it blew the other 
way, and then the rain came down through the leak at 
the foot of Juggins’ bed. Daddy and Juggins had made up a 
nice game about this. Whoever had the most water in their 
pan after a stormy night might choose any cup in the whole 
house for breakfast—even the best blue china one on the top 
shelf. Juggins always chose that one. It had rosebuds around 
the edge, and she felt like a princess when Daddy poured 
her milk into it. Juggins liked the leaks in the roof, and 
she felt sorry when Daddy said that they must work hard 
at the lobster traps, to earn enough money to mend the 
roof before next winter. 

“Don’t let’s earn too much money,” said Juggins. 


20 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

“Don’t you want a new dress to wear to school?” said 
Daddy. 

“Oh, yes,” said Juggins. She had forgotten that she had 
only one real dress. 

But the leaky roof was fun. 

This morning Juggins thought that her pan looked very 
full. She jumped out of bed in her white cotton nightie 
and ran to see. Sure enough, the water was up to the brim. 
Then she went and looked in Daddy’s. It was only half 
full. 

“Goody,” said Juggins again. 

Then she ran into the kitchen to find Daddy, but he was 
not there. She looked out between the blue cotton curtains 
of the back window. She could see the road, and the pasture 
sloping up to the big cottages where the summer people 
lived. Sometimes Daddy went up very early to Madame 
Eliot’s with mackerel for her breakfast. But there was no 
one on the hill now. 

Then she looked out between the blue cotton curtains 
of the front window, and there he was, coming up the path 
from the float, with a pail of something in his hand. 

“Hello,” called Juggins between the curtains, “I beat!” 

“Sure you did,” said Daddy, setting the pail down under 


21 


THE SURPRISE 

the window. Then Juggins saw that it was full of live 
lobsters, all green and wiggly. 

“I suppose I shall have to go up with the lobsters 
myself this morning,” said Daddy, looking at the white 
nightie. 

“Oh, no,” cried Juggins, and she scampered into the bed¬ 
room and began to dress as fast as she could. She put on her 
blue shirt and her fisherman’s overalls, and buckled her 
sandals. Last of all, she tied a strip of blue cotton around 
her yellow top-knot, to keep it out of her eyes. Then she 
ran into the kitchen. 

She was in such a hurry that she almost forgot to wash 

her face and hands at the little green pump. When she was 

• 

all ready she brought the corn bread and the rosebud cup 
from the cupboard, while Daddy took the cunners, all 
crisp and brown, from the stove. Then they sat down at the 
little table and had a very nice breakfast. Juggins had caught 
the cunners the night before with her own little fish pole 
and line, so that they were very fresh indeed. And the milk 
was so good in the rosebud cup that Daddy had to fill it 
three times. 

When they had eaten all the breakfast they went outside, 
and Daddy tied the lobsters together with a piece of string, 


22 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

because the pail was too heavy for Juggins to carry up the 
hill. There were six middle-sized lobsters and one big grand¬ 
father lobster. Daddy put wooden plugs between the claws 
of Grandfather Lobster, to keep him from snapping. Grand¬ 
father lobsters have very bad tempers indeed. Juggins could 
hardly wait for Daddy to tie the last knot. 

As soon as the lobsters were ready, she picked up the 
string and walked off across the grass as fast as she could. 
She wanted to run, but it was never a good plan to run with 
lobsters, because they bumped against your legs. Juggins 
had known a great many lobsters, and she was not a bit 
afraid of them, but they were very snappy, and they did not 
like dangling on a string. 

Juggins walked across the road, and up the little path 
through the pasture. As she went along she was very happy, 
because she was thinking about the surprise. After a while 
she saw that the plug had dropped from between one of 
Grandfather Lobster’s claws. It must have caught in one of 
the bayberry bushes along the path and been pulled out. 
Juggins put down the lobsters and hunted all around in the 
bayberry and sweet fern for the plug, but she could not find 
it. So she picked up the lobsters and started on again. But 
now she had to walk more slowly, because she had to hold 


THE SURPRISE 


23 

Grandfather Lobster’s snappy claw away from her legs. It 
seemed a long way to Madame Eliot’s this morning, and 
Juggins began to be afraid that she would be too late for the 
surprise. 

At last the big gray cottage among the spruce trees came 
in sight, and in a minute Juggins was knocking at the kitchen 
door. She knocked and knocked and knocked, but nobody 
came. Perhaps, thought Juggins, Katie, the maid, was giv¬ 
ing Madame Eliot her breakfast on the front porch. She 
sometimes did when the sun was bright and the sea was blue. 
So Juggins put her lobsters on the grass by the doorstep, 
and tiptoed around to the front of the cottage. It seemed 
to Juggins the biggest house in the world, and it made her 
want to walk on tiptoe. When she came to the porch, there 
was Madame Eliot at a little table, sipping her coffee. With 
her shimmery dress and white hair, she looked to Juggins 
just like a queen. And there beside her was a plate of nice 
fat bananas. 

“Good morning, Lucy Belle,” said Madame Eliot, smil¬ 
ing down at Juggins. “Are you our lobsterman this morn¬ 
ing?” 

“Yes’m,” said Juggins, at the foot of the steps, her hands 
behind her. 


24 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

“And have you seen the surprise yet?” said Madame 
Eliot. 

“I—I don’t know,” said Juggins, looking out of the cor¬ 
ner of her eye at the bananas. 

Just then something happened. 

There were suddenly shrill screams from the side of the 
house, and around the corner came a little boy. Juggins had 
never seen him before, and she wondered how such a thin 
little boy could possibly make such a loud noise. He was 
running as if something very bad indeed were behind him. 
And something was. 

“Why, Joey!” cried Madame Eliot, getting quickly up 
from her chair. “What is the matter?” 

“Oh, oh, oh!” cried Juggins. 

“Granny, Granny, Granny!” cried Joey, scrambling up 
the porch steps, “Takey Toff! Takey Toff! TAKEY TOFF!” 
And he buried his face in Madame Eliot’s skirt. 

And there, holding fast to the seat of Joey’s shorts, was 
Grandfather Lobster, with all the other lobsters trailing be¬ 
hind on the string! 

Juggins scrambled up the steps after Joey, and took hold 
of Grandfather Lobster. Then she pulled and pulled until 
off he came, with a piece of Joey’s shorts tight in his claw. 


THE SURPRISE 25 

“Oh, dear,” said Juggins, looking at the shorts with a 
very scared little round face. 

As soon as Juggins had taken off Grandfather Lobster, 
Joey stopped screaming. He felt around behind him with his 
hand, and when he was sure that there was nothing there but 



a hole, he lifted his head from Madame Eliot’s skirt and 
looked at Juggins. As soon as he saw her he began to laugh. 
She was still holding Grandfather Lobster, and spanking 
him as hard as she could for having torn Joey’s shorts. 

“Hello,” said Joey to Juggins, “I’m going to stay here all 
summer. Can you play with me? I’m the s’prise!” 

And Juggins thought that he was a real one! 



CHAPTER II 


BARNEY’S POCKETS 

When Katie had come out on the porch and taken away 
the lobsters, Madame Eliot gave Juggins and Joey each a 
nice fat banana. Then she went into the house. Juggins and 
Joey sat down on the top step of the porch and ate their 
bananas. They peeled them down very slowly, so that they 
would last a long time. 

After a few minutes Tansy, Madame Eliot’s big yellow 
cat, came and sat down beside Juggins. Tansy liked Jug¬ 
gins. He was one of the cats for whom she caught cunners. 
Juggins broke off a piece of her banana and held it to the 
tip of Tansy’s nose, but Tansy just sniffed and looked the 
other way. 

“I will bring you some fish this afternoon,” said Jug¬ 
gins. 

From the top step they could look off through the little 

spruce trees at the ocean and the bank of fog off shore. It 

had been misty in the early morning, so that Juggins and 

Daddy could not go out to their lobster traps, but now half 

26 


BARNEY’S POCKETS 27 

a dozen little white sails were skimming over the clear, blue 
water. 

“I like boats,” said Joey. “I’ve got one.” 

“So have I,” said Juggins. “We’ve got two.” 

“Mine’s a toy boat,” said Joey, “but Granny’s going to 
have a real motor-boat. A man is building one for her now. 
Are yours motor-boats?” 

“No,” said Juggins, with a little sigh, “just a dory and a 
punt.” 

Juggins wished every day that motor-boats did not cost 
so much money, and that she and Daddy could have one, 
like the other fishermen. It was hard work pulling the old 
dory out to the lobster traps when the sea was rough. Daddy 
said that all Tibbettses were made with fine strong muscles 
in their arms, just to pull dories with—but whenever she 
had a wish-bone, Juggins wished very hard indeed for a 
motor-boat. 

“Will you take me out in your dory some time?” said 
Joey to Juggins. 

“Yes,” said Juggins, “you can come this morning.” 

“All right,” said Joey, his face all smiles. And he got up 
from the step, and hurried to finish his banana. “Where shall 
we go?” 


28 


HERE’S JUGGINS 
“After lobsters,” said Juggins. 

“Oh, no,” said Joey, sitting down on the steps again, the 
smiles all gone. Joey did not want to catch any more lobsters. 

“You could take your toy-boat,” said Juggins, “and see 
if it will really float.” 

Joey thought about this for a moment. 

“Well,” he said, “I’ll get it.” And he ran into the house. 

In a few minutes he came out again, wearing a new pair 
of shorts, and carrying the boat. 

“What a beauty!” cried Juggins, clasping her hands. 

And indeed it was. It was painted white, with a wheel 
like a real motor-boat, and a little brass anchor in the mid¬ 
dle of a tiny coiled rope on the deck. There was also a little 
sailor in a white suit and cap standing at the wheel. On the 
side of the boat was painted its name, the Squid. Juggins 
touched the little sailor’s cap and suit with her finger, to see 
if they were made of real cloth, and they were. 

“Granny says I may go,” said Joey. “Let’s start now.” 

“Yes,” said Juggins, and she led the way around the 
house, and down the little path through the pasture. Joey 
followed close behind, carrying the boat. 

When they had gone a little way they saw a man coming 
up the path toward them. As soon as Juggins looked at him 



BARNEY’S POCKETS 29 

she knew by his squinty, scowly face that he was Jem Bass, 
the fisherman who lived by himself over on Back Cove. 
Juggins was always a little scared when she met Jem Bass 


because he looked so unpleasant. He was scowling now, as 
he came along up the path, and Juggins and Joey stepped 
aside into the sweet fern to let him pass. 







30 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

“Hello,” said Juggins, as he strode by. In Blue Harbor, if 
you were polite, you always said Hello to every one, whether 
you knew him very well or not. 

But Jem Bass just grunted, and did not even look at 
Juggins and Joey. Suddenly he stooped and picked up some¬ 
thing at the edge of the path. Juggins saw right away that 
it was the little wooden plug that had dropped out of Grand¬ 
father Lobster’s claw on the way up the hill. 

“Oh,” she said, “it’s my plug!” 

Jem Bass now looked at Juggins. “You Tibbettses mind 
your own business,” he growled, pocketing the plug. 

“Oh,” said Juggins again, her cheeks very pink. Nobody 
had ever spoken to her like that. 

Joey began to run down the path, but Juggins stood still 
in the sweet fern, too surprised to move. Jem Bass turned 
and started up the hill. Then he looked back, and his scowl 
was blacker than ever. 

“And you tell your Dad,” said Jem Bass, “to keep his 
hands off my lobster business.” 

Juggins looked up at him with round eyes. 

“My Daddy never touched your lobsters,” she said stur¬ 
dily, although her heart was thumping very fast. 

Then, frightened, she turned and scampered down the 


BARNEY’S POCKETS 31 

path. Juggins and Joey ran without looking back, until they 
came in sight of the road and of Juggins’ own little gray 
house on the rocks. Then, as they stopped for breath, they 
saw another man coming along the road. But this time Jug¬ 
gins was not a bit scared. It was Barney Williams, the old 
boat builder from the end of the harbor. Next to Daddy, 
Barney was Juggins’ best friend, and as soon as she saw his 
stooping shoulders and his old corduroy jacket, she began 
to run faster than ever. Sometimes Barney carried very nice 
things for little girls in the great wide pockets of that jacket. 

“Barney,” cried Juggins, “oh, Barney, wait for us!” 

Old Barney looked up and waved his hand. Then he 
stood in the middle of the road, his pipe in his mouth. 

Juggins came racing down the little path, her arms spread 
wide, with Joey and the boat at her heels. They came so fast 
that just at the end of the path Juggins tripped over a stone, 
and Joey tripped over Juggins, and down they went, boat 
and all! 

“Hello,” said Barney, as he picked Juggins out of one 
bayberry bush and Joey out of another, and the boat out of 
the sweet fern, “what’s all this—a shipwreck?” 

When everybody was right-side up again, and Joey had 
made sure that there was not even a scratch on the boat, 


32 HERE’S JUGGINS 

Barney patted one of the big pockets of his corduroy jacket. 

“It seems as if I felt something in here,” said Barney, 
with a chuckle. 

“What?” said Juggins. 

Barney held the pocket open and Juggins put her hand 
down into it. The pocket was so big that Barney could carry 
his tools in it, but now all that she could feel was a two-foot 
rule and a fish-line. Then she laughed, for she felt something 
else. 

“Are they from Mrs. Milly Willy?” asked Juggins. Mrs. 
Milly Willy was Barney Williams’ nice plump old wife, and 
was another of Juggins’ special friends. 

Barney nodded his head. Then Juggins took her hand out 
of the pocket, and there was a cookie as big as Barney’s hand. 
The cookie was cut in the shape of a fish, and it was cov¬ 
ered thick with sugar. 

“Now it’s your turn,” said Juggins to Joey. “There are 
some more in there.” 

So Joey felt around in the big pocket, and when he took 
out his hand, there was another cookie, cut in the shape of a 
boat, and it was covered thick with sugar too. Juggins and 
Joey each took a big bite. 

“Yum, yum,” said Joey. 


BARNEY’S POCKETS 33 

“What’s in the other pocket?” said Juggins, walking 
around Barney. There was something very bulgy indeed in 
that pocket. 



Barney’s little black eyes twinkled, but he would not let 
anybody look. 

“When we get to the house we will take it out,” said 
Barney. 

Juggins touched the pocket on the outside of the jacket. 
“Oh, I know!” she said, jumping up and down. “It’s 
somebody for the family. Oh, goody!” 









34 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

“What?” said Joey. 

But Juggins would not tell either. 

Then Juggins took hold of one of old Barney’s hands, 
and Joey took hold of the other, and together they dragged 
him as fast as they could, along the road to the little gray 
house on the rocks. 



CHAPTER III 

WHERE IS GERALDINE? 

The bulgy thing in Barney’s pocket was a thick stick of 
wood. It had a funny face painted on it at one end, with a 
grin and a little sharp wooden nose sticking up in the air. 
It also had a painted yellow jacket, and a ring of rope 
through its head instead of hair. 

“Oh,” cried Juggins, as soon as she had pulled it out of 
Barney’s pocket. “He’s handsome!” And she held it out for 
Joey to see. 

But Joey looked disappointed. 

“It’s only a doll,” he said. 


35 





36 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

“No,” said Juggins, “it’s a lobster buoy.” 

Juggins knew all about lobster buoys, for she had a large 
family of lobster buoy children that Daddy and Barney had 
made for her. There were Tiny Tim and Geraldine and 
Mr. Hoover, and ever so many others. Nobody had ever 
given Juggins a real doll, but the lobster buoy children were 
much nicer to play with, because they could go swimming 
with Juggins in summer and coasting with her in winter, 
and they never broke their legs because they hadn’t any. 
They all had grins and little sharp noses, and they all wore 
bright yellow jackets, so that Daddy and Juggins could see 
them easily, bobbing up and down on the blue ocean. Jug¬ 
gins’ children spent nearly all their time out at sea tied to the 
lobster traps. She missed them, but she saw them every day 
when she and Daddy went out to get the lobsters, and she 
let the children take turns coming ashore to play with 
her. 

“It’s Geraldine’s turn to come home to-day,” said Jug¬ 
gins to Barney, “I shall tie the new one to her trap instead. 
I do want my Geraldine.” 

Old Barney chuckled and pinched her ear. Then he 
pinched Joey’s. 

“You’ll soon be a fisherman too,” said Barney. 


37 


WHERE IS GERALDINE? 

Then he filled his pipe and went off up the road. 

Juggins and Joey ran around to the front of the little 
gray house, and there was Daddy, with a pair of oars over 
his shoulders. It was time to go out to the lobster traps. 

“Can Joey come too?” said Juggins. 

“Sure,” said Daddy. 

So they all went down the rocky little path to the float. 

There were two boats tied to the float—the little green 
punt, with the words “Pea Pod” painted on it (that was 
Juggins’ boat), and the big white dory (that was Daddy’s). 
Daddy untied the dory and pulled it in. While he was doing 
this Juggins and Joey put the Squid into the water. It floated 
beautifully. 

“Let’s tie it to the float till we get back,” said Juggins. 
“We can play it’s waiting for a cargo. Boats do.” 

“All right,” said Joey, although he was not quite sure 
what a cargo was. 

So they uncoiled the tiny rope on the deck of the Squid, 
and tied it to an iron ring at the edge of the float. It did 
look very cunning riding up and down on the harbor waves, 
just like the Pea Pod. 

Then Daddy lifted Juggins and Joey into the dory. He 
put them side by side on the stern seat. It was not a wide 



38 HERE’S JUGGINS 

seat, and Juggins was a very wide little girl, but Joey was 
a narrow little boy, so they just fitted in, with the new lob¬ 
ster buoy child between them. Daddy jumped into the dory 


and pushed it off. Then, standing in the middle of it, with 
his back to Juggins and Joey, he began to row down the 
harbor with long smooth strokes. 

The sky and ocean were a jolly blue, and there was sun¬ 
shine everywhere, although out beyond the harbor Juggins 
could see a long dark streak of fog against the sky. Side by 
side on the stern seat, Juggins and Joey sniffed the fresh 









WHERE IS GERALDINE? 39 

salt breeze that was blowing in from the sea and were very 
happy. After a while they came to Mad Cap Island at the 
mouth of the harbor. There they met a motor-boat coming 
in. A tall old fisherman was standing up in the motor-boat, 
and as he went by the dory he put his hands up to his mouth 
and shouted to Daddy. 

“Hi, Tom,” he called, “they’ve seen that red robber out 
there again this morning, but they lost him. He went into 
the fog again.” 

Daddy stopped rowing for a moment. 

“Were the traps touched?” he shouted back. 

The fisherman was already too far away to answer, but 
he nodded his head. 

“Oh, dear!” said Juggins. She had heard Daddy and Bar¬ 
ney talking only yesterday about the dreadful things that 
were happening out at the lobster traps. 

“Who’s the Red Robber?” asked Joey, sitting up very 
straight. “I love robbers.” 

“But he’s not a nice robber,” said Juggins. “He steals 
lobsters right out of people’s traps.” 

“Why don’t they catch him?” said Joey. 

“They can’t,” said Juggins, “because he only comes when 
there’s fog, and he hides in it, and he wears a red scarf up 


4 o HERE’S JUGGINS 

to his ears, so nobody can see who he is. Oh, I hope he hasn’t 
taken our lobsters.” 

“I wish we could see him,” said Joey. 

Juggins stood up in the dory and looked out to sea at 
the Red Robber’s hiding place. 

“Perhaps he’ll come out of the fog,” she said. “We can 
watch now, and whoever sees anything can say ‘oh.’ ” 

So Juggins and Joey sat on the edge of their seat and 
watched the fog bank with round eyes, while Daddy rowed 
the dory out past Mad Cap Island into the open ocean, 
straight toward the Red Robber. 

Suddenly Joey said “OH!” very loud indeed. 

“You haven’t seen anything,” said Juggins, looking all 
around. 

But Joey had—only it was not the Red Robber. It was 
an ocean swell, and to Joey, who had never been out on the 
ocean before, it looked as if a mountain were coming right 
down on him. The other end of the dory began to go up 
and up, and in a moment he and Juggins were sitting on 
top of the mountain; then down they slid into a blue-green 
valley—and there was another swell racing toward them. 

“I think we’d better go home now,” said Joey, in a very 
small voice. 



41 


WHERE IS GERALDINE? 

| 

But Juggins laughed. 

“It’s fun,’’ she said. “It’s like coasting.” And after they 
had gone safely over two or three more of the big swells, 
Joey began to laugh and think it was fun too. 

Every time the dory went up to the top of a swell Juggins 
and Joey looked off across the sea for the Red Robber, but 
nothing at all came out of the fog. Soon there began to be 
little bright yellow spots on the swells. They were Juggins’ 
lobster buoy children, bobbing up and down in the sun¬ 
shine. Daddy pulled the dory up beside one of them and 
stopped rowing. Juggins leaned over the side of the dory 
and looked. 

“It’s Mr. Hoover,” she said, patting him. “He needs a 
new grin.” 

Daddy leaned over too and pulled Mr. Hoover and his 
rope, and out of the ocean and over the side of the dory 
came a big lobster trap, dripping with seaweed. While 
Daddy emptied a great many wiggling lobsters out of the 
trap, Juggins stood up in the middle of the dory, her feet 
wide apart, and held the oars. Juggins was a good little fish¬ 
erman, and never lost her balance, even when they went 
over some very big swells indeed. When the trap was empty, 
and Juggins had thrown the baby lobsters as far away as 


42 HERE’S JUGGINS 

she could, she put a piece of fish into the trap for bait, and 
Daddy dropped the trap and Mr. Hoover back into the 
water. 

“I think the next is Geraldine’s,” said Juggins, and she 



leaned over the side of the dory, to look for her favorite 
child. 

But the next trap was Tiny Tim’s, and the next was 
somebody else’s, and as they went on over the swells, and 
there was no Geraldine to be seen, Juggins began to be very 
sober indeed. 

“Maybe she was dragged in the storm last night,” said 
Daddy. “We’ll find her farther on.” 






WHERE IS GERALDINE? 43 

But although they rowed back and forth and emptied 
all their traps, there was no sign of Geraldine anywhere on 
the ocean. 

“Oh, dear!” said Juggins, and she looked down at the 
lobsters in the bottom of the dory, because she did not want 
Joey to see two big tears. 

“That’s a fine catch,’’ said Daddy cheerfully, looking 
down at the lobsters too. “I guess the Red Robber hasn’t 
touched our traps. If you can sell those lobsters, maybe you 
can be spending money for something.” 

“For a motor-boat?” said Juggins, blinking at the lob¬ 
sters. 

“No,” said Daddy, smiling at Juggins, “but maybe a 
zipper jacket.” 

“Oh, goody,” said Juggins, looking up again and smil¬ 
ing too. 

Juggins’ old sweater had five holes in it, and she did so 
want something that zipped. 

But as soon as Juggins looked up she caught her breath, 
for there was the fog close in her face. While they had been 
hunting for Geraldine it had come silently in. 

“Oh, hurry Daddy,” cried Juggins. Like all good fisher¬ 
men, she had been born with a fear of the fog. 


44 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

But Daddy had seen it too, and had picked up the oars 
and begun to row as hard as he could for the harbor. The 
gray curtain of mist was just behind them, and little wisps 
of it were already flying over their heads. 

“The Red Robber!” said Joey, looking over his shoul¬ 
der. “Perhaps he’s chasing us in the fog.” 

“Yes,” said Juggins, and she looked back too, but she 
was more afraid of the fog than of the Red Robber. 

Juggins and Joey sat very close together, with the new 
lobster buoy child still between them. Once when Juggins 
looked back she thought that she saw just the tip of a boat 
peeking out of the mist, but it was gone right away. Then 
all at once a boat did come out of the fog, close beside them. 
There was a flash of red, and both Juggins and Joey squealed 
and hid their faces in their laps. But when Juggins peeked 
up out of the corners of her eyes, it was only old Barney in 
his motor-boat. He had been out to his traps too, and was 
waving his red handkerchief as he went chugging by! 

The dory went on toward the harbor, with the long 
smooth strokes of Daddy’s oars, and soon they were going 
in past Mad Cap again, with clear water ahead. They had 
beaten the fog and the Red Robber. 

When they had slid safely up to the float, and Daddy 


WHERE IS GERALDINE? 



had lifted Juggins and Joey out of the dory, the first thing 
they saw was a really truly cargo in the little Squid. Some¬ 
body had left a fishing line on a reel, with a hook and sinker, 
for Joey. 

“It’s Barney,” said Juggins. “I felt it in his pocket.” 

“Now I can go fishing too,” said Joey, very much 
pleased. 

“We’ll go right after our dinners,” said Juggins. 

Joey picked up his boat and the fishing line, and started 
up the rocky little path. He wanted to have his dinner as 
soon as he could. Halfway up the path he looked back. 

“Say,” he called to Juggins, “I think you’re as good as a 


boy.” 

Juggins stood in the middle of the float and smiled at 
Joey, but she was not quite happy. She was thinking about 
Geraldine, and wishing that she knew what had become of 
her. But if Juggins had really known where poor Geraldine 
was, she probably would not have been happy at all. 




CHAPTER IV 

CUNNERS FOR CATS 

As soon as Juggins had finished her dinner, she took a 
small can from the shelf and a tin spoon, and went out into 
the little potato patch behind the house to dig angleworms. 
Once a week Daddy liked to go fishing up at Fresh Pond, 
and then he needed plenty of worms for bait. It was a very 
rocky little potato patch, but there were lots of angle worms 
in it. 

Juggins got down on her knees among the potato plants 

46 




CUNNERS FOR CATS 47 

and began to scoop out a small hole in the soft earth. Very 
soon two fat brown angleworms came wiggling out of it. 
She picked them up and brushed them nicely, and dropped 
them into the little can. Then she scooped out another 
hole. 

She was digging away busily, and thinking that Joey 
must long ago have finished his dinner, when suddenly 
through the potato plants she saw two slim legs coming 
along the road close by. They were not Joey’s, because they 
wore long creased trousers, and had very large beautiful 
sport shoes at the end of them. Juggins went on scooping in 
the earth with her spoon until the legs stopped right in front 
of the potato patch. Then she sat back on the heels of her 
sandals and looked up. She saw at once that the legs belonged 
to the new young man who had come to live in the summer 
cottage next to Madame Eliot’s. He was reading the words 
on the shingle sign by the road, and he looked like a very 
pleasant young man indeed. When he had finished reading 

he turned to Juggins. 

“Are you L. B. Tibbetts?” he said. 

“Yes,” said Juggins. 

“Well, what’s the price of angleworms to-day?” he en¬ 
quired. 


48 HERE’S JUGGINS 

“They’re one cent for fifteen,” replied Juggins. 

The young man whistled. 

“Very nice and fat?” he said. 

“Oh, yes,” said Juggins. And she held up a fat brown 
one between her thick little brown finger and thumb. 

“Then,” said the young man, “I’ll have thirty.” 

“Oh!” said Juggins. This was a very large order indeed. 

The can was already half full, so Juggins tipped the 
angleworms out of it and began to count. 

“Shall I put them in your pocket?” she asked, when she 
had counted out thirty. 

“Well—no,” said the young man, “I believe not. They 
might come out, and it happens that the friend I am going 
to walk with doesn’t care for angleworms—except on a hook. 
Here, suppose you put them in this.” And he picked up an 
empty little tin tobacco box that somebody had thrown down 
by the roadside. 

So Juggins packed the angleworms into the tobacco box. 
It was a tight fit, and the angleworms could not have been 
at all comfortable, but they all got in somehow. 

“I had to put in two thin ones,” said Juggins, “but they 
were extra long.” 

“That’s great,” said the young man. And he gave Jug- 



CUNNERS FOR CATS 49 

gins two shiny pennies, and put the box into his pocket. 
Then he went on down the road. He turned at the bend and 
waved his hand, but Juggins did not see him. She was look¬ 
ing up into the pasture at something that was coming down 
the little path among the bayberry and sweet fern. It was 
certainly Joey’s head that was bobbing along above the tops 
of the bushes, but below his head he looked very queer in¬ 
deed. In a minute he ran out of the path into the road, and 
Juggins in the potato patch stared harder than ever. Joey 
had been changed during the dinner hour into a brownie, 
very fat around the middle and with legs that looked thin¬ 
ner than ever. 

“What’s that you’ve got on?” said Juggins, as Joey came 
up a little out of breath. She tried hard not to giggle because 
she knew that it was not polite to laugh at people, but Joey 
did look very funny. 

“It’s a cork jacket,” said Joey. “Granny says I have to 
wear it when I play near the water, so I’ll float if I fall in. 
Are we going fishing now?” 

“Yes,” said Juggins. “We must catch some cunners for 
Tansy and for Mrs. Milly Willy’s cat.” 

So Juggins and Joey went around to the front of the little 
gray house. Two fishing poles were lying on the grass. One 


50 HERE’S JUGGINS 

of them had a line on it. That was Juggins’. She tied Joey’s 
line to the other, and picked up a can of snails from the 
doorstep. When you go fishing in salt water you cannot use 
angleworms. Then Juggins and Joey ran down the rocky 
little path to the float. Juggins put one of the snails on Joey’s 
hook and one on hers. Then she showed Joey how to throw 
his line into the water. They stood side by side at the edge 
and Joey did just what Juggins did. 

All at once Joey began to jump up and down on the edge 
of the float. 

“Oh, oh!’’ he squealed, “something’s got hold of my line! 
They’re pulling it away! Oh, oh, oh!” And Joey held on to 
his pole with both hands, and capered about in his cork 
jacket until Juggins was sure that he would fall into the 
water. 

“You’ve got a bite!” cried Juggins, as soon as she could 
stop laughing. And she took hold of his pole, and jerked it 
up into the air—and there on Joey’s hook was a fine big 
cunner. Joey was very proud and pleased when he saw that 
he had really caught a fish. Juggins took the cunner off for 
him, and put another snail on his hook, and they went on 
fishing. Very soon Juggins caught a cunner, and then Joey 
had another bite, but this time he did not jump around or 




a 


Oh! Oh!” he squealed. “Something’s got hold of my line.” 







































V 


CUNNERS FOR CATS 


53 

squeal. He jerked the line into the air, just the way Juggins 
did, and landed his own cunner right in the middle of the 
float. 

They fished until they had each caught four cunners, and 
Juggins said that was enough for to-day. So they lifted their 
lines out of the water, and turned to pick up the fish. Then 
they stared very hard at the float, for there was not a cunner 
to be seen! But there was a flapping of wings overhead. 

“The gulls!” cried Juggins. 

And when they looked up in the air, sure enough, there 
was the tail of their last fish dangling from the beak of a 
large gull. 

“Oh, oh!” cried Joey in despair. 

“Never mind,” said Juggins. “We can catch two more. 
That will be one for each cat.” 

So they threw their lines into the water again, and very 
soon they each had a bite. 

“They’re the biggest ones of all,” said Juggins, as she 
took the fish off the hooks. 

She put her cunner in one of the breast pockets of her 
overalls, and she put Joey’s cunner in the other, because his 
pocket was covered up by the cork jacket. Juggins thought 
that the cunners looked very large and fine with their heads 


54 HERE’S JUGGINS 

sticking out. She and Joey left their fishing poles by the 
door-step. Then they started along the road toward Mrs. 
Milly Willy’s. Barney and Mrs. Milly Willy kept the little 
store at the end of the harbor. 

“We can see your Granny’s motor-boat,” said Juggins. 
“Barney’s building it, and it’s grand.” Juggins sighed a lit¬ 
tle, as she always did when she thought of motor-boats. 

The road wound along by the edge of the harbor, past 
ever so many fishermen’s cottages. They were all bigger 
than Juggins’ little gray house, and in the biggest of all 
lived Amos Alley, the Constable. Constable was what they 
called the policeman in Blue Harbor. Every day Amos Al¬ 
ley sat on his side porch in his shirt sleeves, and watched 
people going by on the road. And once in a while he took 
somebody off to jail. He was sitting on the porch to-day, very 
thin and solemn, as Juggins and Joey went walking by. 
When he saw Joey’s cork jacket, and the heads of the cun- 
ners sticking out of Juggins’ pockets, he leaned forward in 
his chair, and stared at them over his spectacles. 

Juggins and Joey walked as fast as they could, and when 
they came to the bend in the road, they began to run, and 
never stopped until they had run up the steps of Barney’s 
little store and were safely inside. Mrs. Milly Willy, plump 


CUNNERS FOR CATS 55 

and cheerful, in a pink cotton dress, was sitting behind the 
counter making a hooked rug. 

“Well, bless my soul!” said Mrs. Milly. “What’s all 
this?” 



“We’ve got a fish for Muffin,” said Juggins. Muffin was 
Mrs. Milly Willy’s cat. 

“Fine!” said Mrs. Milly Willy. “And Muffin has some¬ 
thing for you too.” 

“What?” said Joey. 

Just then Muffin herself came in at the door and ran be¬ 
hind the counter. 
















56 HERE’S JUGGINS 

“Is it what you said you’d give me the next time you had 
any?” said Juggins. 

“Sure,” said Mrs. Milly Willy, looking merrily over her 
spectacles. 

“Oh, goody,” said Juggins, and she ran behind the 
counter too. 



CHAPTER V 

JUGGINS SELLS THE LOBSTERS 

Behind the counter at Mrs. Milly Willy’s feet was a box 
of hay, and in it were Muffin and two tiny fluffy gray kittens. 

“Oh, Mrs. Milly Willy,’’ cried Juggins, “which can I 
have?” 

“Whichever you want,” said Mrs. Milly Willy. 

Juggins picked up one of the fluff balls very carefully 
by the back of its neck, and Joey picked up the other. 

“I’ll have this one, with the black nose,” said Juggins. 
“Can I take it home now?” 

Juggins had wanted a kitten for a very long time. 



58 HERE’S JUGGINS 

“Well,” said Mrs. Milly Willy, “I think if I were you 
I’d wait until it likes cunners.” 

Juggins took a cunner out of her pocket, and held it to 
the little black nose. 

“Oh, dear,” she said after a minute, “I guess I’ll have to 
wait a pretty long time.” 

So she and Joey put the kittens back into the box, and 
she gave the cunner to Muffin, who liked it right away, and 
ran off with it behind a flour barrel. 

There were ever so many barrels and boxes around Mrs. 
Milly Willy’s store. There were shelves too, full of cans and 
packages of things to eat, and more shelves full of cotton 
cloth and ribbons and fishermen’s gloves. There was even a 
glass case on the counter, with gum drops and licorice and 
chocolate mice in it. It seemed to Juggins that there was 
everything that anybody could possibly want in Mrs. Milly 
Willy’s store. Best of all, there was a rope high up across 
the front window, and on it hung a row of jackets that 
zipped. 

Juggins ran across the store and looked up at the jackets. 
Yesterday Mrs. Milly Willy had let her try on a little blue- 
and-white-check one that was exactly the right size. Jug¬ 
gins had been afraid ever since that somebody else would take 


JUGGINS SELLS THE LOBSTERS 59 

it away before she and Daddy could sell enough lobsters to 
buy it. And now she could not see it at all, among the red 
and green and gray jackets for the big fishermen. Juggins 
walked back and forth, reaching up to push the jackets 
apart. Then all at once she saw a bit of blue. 

“There it is!” she cried. “Do you think it will wait for 
me, Mrs. Milly Willy?” 

“Sure,” said Mrs. Milly Willy very cheerfully. 

But Juggins did wish that one didn’t have to wait for 
quite so many things. 

Mrs. Milly Willy now opened the glass case and took 
out two chocolate mice, one for Juggins and one for Joey, 
because they had brought Muffin the cunner. They were 
very fine chocolate mice, with pink peppermint eyes and 
long elastic tails, and they were much too beautiful to eat. 
But in just a minute there was nothing left of them but the 
two elastic tails. 

“Now let’s go and see the boat,” said Juggins. 

So Juggins and Joey said goodbye to Mrs. Milly Willy 
and the kittens, and ran out of the store, and down the 
grassy slope toward the harbor. They could see the motor- 
boat gleaming white in a little open shed among the fish 
houses by the edge of the water. 


6o 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

“Barney’s painting it,” said Juggins. “It’s almost fin¬ 
ished. Perhaps he’ll let us help.” 

But when they ran into the shed, Barney was not there. 
The boat was standing, big and high, across some blocks 
of wood a little way above the floor. When it was quite 
finished, Barney would push it off the blocks, out through 
the front of the shed, and down a sort of little runway, like a 
toboggan slide, into the water. Barney called this launching 
the boat. Juggins loved launchings, because you never 
knew whether boats were really going to float until they 
slid down into the water. She was always excited and a 
little afraid that they wouldn’t, but Barney’s always did. 
Soon she would see this one go sliding down into the harbor 
too. Juggins stood on tiptoe and peeped over the high curv¬ 
ing rim. 

“It’s wonderful,” she said, feeling of the smooth wood, 
and sniffing the fresh sprucy smell. 

“I’ll take you out in it when Granny gets it,” said Joey 
proudly. “I guess we can catch the Red Robber with that 
boat.” 

“Yes,” said Juggins, “I can see a place for the engine, 
and it’s ever so big.” 

Joey tried to peep over the rim too, but he couldn’t on 


JUGGINS SELLS THE LOBSTERS 61 

account of the cork jacket. So he ran around to the other 
side. 



“There’s some paint here,” said Joey. 

Juggins ran to look too, and sure enough, there was a 
can with two brushes in it. That side of the boat had not 
been painted at all. 

“Let’s finish it for Barney,” said Juggins. “Now, before 
he gets back.” 





















62 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

So they each took a brush and began to paint as fast as 
they could, Juggins at one end and Joey at the other. After 
a while the ends of the boat began to be a beautiful shiny 
white. So were the tips of their ten fingers and Joey’s cork 
jacket. 

“Won’t Barney be surprised?” said Juggins. 

But it was not Barney who was to be surprised first. 

Juggins was painting away at the bottom of the boat, 
when suddenly she heard footsteps on the grass outside. She 
put her cheek down on the floor, and peeked under the 
boat. But it was not Barney’s old fisherman’s boots that 
Juggins saw. Instead, coming along over the grass toward 
the shed were the very same large beautiful sport shoes that 
she had seen through the potato plants after dinner. And 
beside them were walking another pair of beautiful sport 
shoes, only ever so much smaller. Juggins knew right away 
that they must belong to the friend who did not care for angle 
worms except on a hook. Juggins stopped painting and sat 
as still as a mouse, hidden behind the boat. And so did Joey. 
The two pairs of shoes walked right into the shed. They 
must have been trying to find Barney, for this is what Jug¬ 
gins and Joey heard over the top of the boat: 

“He’s not here, Cherry.” 


JUGGINS SELLS THE LOBSTERS 63 

“Oh, Ted, I don’t know where else to go. The lobster 
roast is to-morrow afternoon, and I just won’t have Jem 
Bass’ lobsters again. Who else can sell us fifty?” 

“I can!” said Juggins. And her head popped suddenly 
over the rim of the boat, like a jack-in-the-box. At almost 
the same moment Joey’s head popped up over the other 
end. 

“Oh!” said Miss Cherry, with a little squeal. 

“Je-AorA-a-phat!” said Mr. Ted, looking down at Jug¬ 
gins. “Can what?” 

“Sell you fifty lobsters,” said Juggins, looking up at 
Mr. Ted. 

As soon as she looked up, there was a funny little white 
thing bobbing around in the air in front of her. She squinted 
at it, and then she saw that it was the end of her nose with a 
blob of white paint on it. It must have hit the boat on the way 
up. Joey looked as if his had hit something too. 

“Are you painting the boat or each other?” enquired Mr. 
Ted. 

But Miss Cherry smiled at Juggins from under her little 
pink hat. 

“Will you ask your Daddy,” said Miss Cherry, “to bring 
fifty lobsters down on the rocks for the lobster roast to-mor- 


64 HERE’S JUGGINS 

row afternoon, and will you and Joey come too, and help us 
to get the seaweed?” 

“Oh, yes’m,” said Juggins, with a little jump, and her 
eyes were very bright over the rim of the boat. 

As soon as Mr. Ted and Miss Cherry had gone away up 
the hill, Juggins ran out of the shed. She could hardly wait 
to get home to tell Daddy about the lobsters. She forgot the 
boat and Barney and Mrs. Milly Willy and the kittens. She 
almost forgot Joey, who panted along the road behind, trying 
to keep up. And when they came to the little path up through 
the pasture, and Joey said goodbye, she forgot the cunner 
for Tansy that was still in her pocket. But as the cunner was 
white with paint, Tansy probably would not have liked it 
any way. 

“I’ve sold the lobsters! I’ve sold the lobsters!” sang Jug¬ 
gins, as she skipped along the road, and around the corner of 
the little gray house. 

And there was Daddy sitting on the doorstep, smoking 
his pipe, all ready to be told the news. When Juggins had 
told it, and Daddy had pinched her cheek and wagged his 
head, as he always did when he was very much pleased, Jug¬ 
gins sat down on the doorstep too. 

“Do you s’pose,” said Juggins after a minute, looking 


JUGGINS SELLS THE LOBSTERS 65 

up out of the corner of her eye, “do you s’pose that fifty lob¬ 
sters are enough for a zipper jacket?” 

“Well—maybe,” said Daddy. 

Then Juggins was very happy, for when Daddy said 
maybe like that, pleasant things almost always happened. 

So Juggins sat on the door-step beside Daddy and looked 
out to sea, and thought what a nice day it had been. And it 



was not until she was all tucked into bed that night under the 
patch-work quilt, and Daddy had taken away the lamp, that 
she thought about two things that were not so nice. She re¬ 
membered that she did not know what had happened to poor 
Geraldine, and she remembered what Jem Bass had said up 
in the pasture, about leaving his lobster business alone. 
Juggins did hope that Jem Bass would not be very cross 
because she had sold Miss Cherry the lobsters for the lobster 


roast. 


66 HERE’S JUGGINS 

And then she thought of the lobster roast, and of all the 
jolly things that were going to happen to-morrow—and be¬ 
fore she had thought of half of them, Juggins was fast asleep 
under the patch-work quilt. 


CHAPTER VI 

THE LOBSTER ROAST 

When Juggins woke up on the day of the lobster roast 
she did not see how she could possibly wait for the afternoon 
to come. As soon as she had finished her breakfast she ran 
to the kitchen shelf and looked up at the clock. 

“How many times will the big hand have to go all the 
way round, before we can take the lobsters over to the 
rocks?” said Juggins to Daddy. 

“Nine times,” said Daddy, for it was only half past six. 

“Oh, dear,” said Juggins, staring at the clock, “doesn’t 
it ever go round faster than that?” 

“Not while you’re looking at it,” said Daddy. 

So Juggins turned her back on the clock, and washed 
the cups and spoons, and polished the little wood stove with 
a blacking brush. Then she looked up at the clock again. 

“Daddy,” she called, running to the door, “it’s going 
faster!” 

“Sure,” said Daddy. 

Daddy was mending a fish net in front of the house, so 

67 


68 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

Juggins went out too, where the net was spread on the grass, 
and hunted all over it for the holes. Juggins liked to help 
mend nets with Daddy, because they played that every time 
she found a hole she had caught a fine fish. The big holes were 
whales and the little ones were cunners. This morning the 
net was an old one, and Juggins caught twenty whales. When 
they had finished, she ran in and looked at the clock again, 
and it had gone round very fast indeed. 

“I guess it does like not to be watched,” said Juggins. 
So she did not look at it again for ever so long. 

She sat beside Daddy on the door-step while he spliced a 
rope. And after that they went out in the dory to get their 
lobsters. And then they bailed the boats. And then they had 
dinner. And then—when Juggins at last looked at the clock 
again, it was after three, and time to get ready for the lobster 
roast! 

She put on some clean blue overalls, and scrubbed her 
face and hands very hard at the little green pump. Then 
Daddy put the lobsters into two big pails, and they started 
along the road to the Point. 

The Point was a long stretch of flat rocks at the mouth of 
the harbor, and when the tide was low, as it was this after¬ 
noon, it was a beautiful place for a picnic fire. Before Jug- 



THE LOBSTER ROAST . 69 

gins and Daddy had come to the end of the road, they could 
see a column of blue smoke rising above the little spruce 


trees, and when Juggins ran ahead and came out upon the 
cliff, there was a fine bright fire leaping and crackling be¬ 
tween two big rocks down on the Point. Mr. Ted and Miss 



















7 o HERE’S JUGGINS 

Cherry were throwing driftwood on the fire. Joey was there 
too, and as soon as he saw Juggins, he waved his hand and 
came running to meet her. 

“I didn’t have to wear my cork jacket,” said Joey, “be¬ 
cause there’ll be so many people here to pull me out if I fall 

* >> 

in. 

Daddy carried the pails over to the fire, and Mr. Ted took 
some money out of his pocket and handed it to Daddy. It was 
more money than Juggins had ever before seen all together. 
Miss Cherry said that the lobsters were fine, and Juggins 
smiled at Daddy and was very proud and glad. 

When Daddy had gone away, Mr. Ted said that it was 
time to get the seaweed for Miss Cherry. So he and Juggins 
and Joey ran down to the edge of the ocean, where the sea¬ 
weed hung, wet and brown, on the rocks. Mr. Ted had on 
fisherman’s boots to-day, instead of the beautiful new sport 
shoes, and he stepped right into the water and pulled off 
handfuls of the seaweed. Then he gave it to Juggins and Joey 
and they ran back and forth, carrying it to Miss Cherry by 
the fire. Miss Cherry piled it on an iron shelf over the fire, 
and buried the lobsters in it to cook. Juggins knew just how 
good the lobsters would taste steamed in seaweed. 

It was fun skipping from one flat rock to the next, and 


THE LOBSTER ROAST 71 

jumping over all the little salt water pools. There was no fog 
to-day—just the clear, blue ocean as far out as they could see. 
Juggins wondered where the Red Robber went when there 
was no fog. Perhaps he was hiding out there among the green 
islands beyond the bell-buoy. She could see the little black 
bell-buoy rising and falling on the water off shore, and she 
could hear its faint tinkle. Sometimes, when the sea was 
rough, and the bell-buoy was tossed about on the waves, 
Juggins could even hear it in the little gray house after she 
had gone to bed. She liked the sound of the bell-buoy, because 
she knew that fishermen out at sea in the dark would hear 
it too, and be able to find their way safely into the harbor. 

When Juggins and Joey had brought enough seaweed 
for Miss Cherry, Mr. Ted said that they must have more 
driftwood for the fire. 

“It takes a lot of wood for fifty lobsters,” said Mr. Ted. 
“I don’t believe anybody can find it as fast as Miss Cherry 
and I can burn it up.” 

“We can!” cried Juggins and Joey together. And away 
they went again. They looked here and there among the 
rocks, and very soon they began to find the pieces of drift¬ 
wood that the ocean washes in at high tide. As soon as they 
had an armful of it they ran back to the fire. 



72 HERE’S JUGGINS 

Before long more people began to come down the hill 
from the summer cottages, bringing baskets full of things to 
eat. Every time that Juggins came back with the wood, there 


were more piles of sandwiches and oranges and cookies. 
There was even a sack of peanuts, and after a while Madame 
Eliot’s Katie came, bringing a large red tin box. 

















THE LOBSTER ROAST 73 

“It’s sugared doughnuts,” said Joey. “Granny’s sent 
enough for everybody.” 

Juggins hoped that they would not have to get very much 
more wood. They had picked up all the pieces near the fire, 
and now they had walked along the shore as far as Mad Cap 
island without finding any more. Then Juggins had an idea. 
When the tide was high, there was a wide stretch of blue 
water between the rocks and the island, but now, at low tide, 
there was a little narrow strip of pebbles, on which one could 
walk across the island. 

“I know,” said Juggins. “We can go over to Mad Cap 
and hunt for wood. There’ll be lots of it, because nobody lives 
there.” 

So they tip-toed across on the narrow strip of wet pebbles. 
The shore of Mad Cap was wild and rough, and the rocks 
were too steep to catch much driftwood. It was hard climbing, 
but Juggins and Joey scrambled along as well as they could 
over the rocks. Soon they went around a bend in the shore, 
and then they could not see the lobster fire any more. After 
a while they came to a pebbly beach, and there at last were 
some fine sticks of wood scattered about. Above the beach, 
among the spruce trees, was an old tumble-down fisherman’s 
hut. Nobody lived in it, and its door was swinging loose in 


74 HERE’S JUGGINS 

the wind and creaking. Juggins and Joey began to feel very 
far away indeed from the lobster roast. 

They each picked up one of the sticks of wood and began 
to scramble back along the shore as fast as they could. It was 
harder than ever to climb over the rocks, now that they had 
the wood to carry, and Juggins thought that they would 
never come in sight of the lobster roast again. But when at 
last they climbed around the bend, there was the cheerful 
smoke from the fire down the shore, and there were the gay 
sweaters of all the people sitting about it. They looked small 
and far away, but Juggins could see that they had begun to 
eat the lobsters. 

“Let’s run,” said Juggins, who was as hungry as she 
could be. 

But when she and Joey looked down at the shore in front 
of them, there was no place to run to! Instead of the strip of 
pebbles, there was now a strip of blue water between the 
lobster roast and Juggins and Joey. 

“Who put the ocean in there?” said Joey, very much sur¬ 
prised. 

“It’s the tide,” said Juggins. “We stayed too long. It’s 
come in!” And they looked at each other with scared faces. 

“When will it go out?” said Joey. 


THE LOBSTER ROAST 75 

“In the middle of the night,” said Juggins, who knew all 
about tides. 

“But I shan’t like it here in the middle of the night,” said 
Joey, looking very sober. 

“Perhaps they’ll see us before that,” said Juggins, “and 
take us off.” 

So they both stood up on a high rock and waved their 
arms and shouted as loud as they could. But they were too 
far away for anybody to hear, and the people at the lobster 
roast were all too busy eating, to stop to look at Mad Cap 
Island. Far away down the shore Juggins and Joey could 
see them pulling the lobsters out of the seaweed, and passing 
the baskets of goodies round and round. Very soon they 
would be all gone. And then Katie’s red tin box gleamed in 
the sunshine. Everybody was eating doughnuts. 

“They had extra sugar on them,” said Joey, blinking a 
little. 

“Oh, dear,” said Juggins, blinking a little too. “What 
shall we do?” 

Just then there was a shout. Mr. Ted had looked over at 
Mad Cap Island, and was leaping across the rocks as if his 
fisherman’s boots were seven-league boots instead. 

“You young scalawags!” said Mr. Ted, as he walked 


76 HERE’S JUGGINS 

right into the water, “we thought you had both run home 
for your suppers.” 

The water was not very deep, and in just a minute Mr. 
Ted had carried Juggins and Joey safely over to the main¬ 
land. Then they all ran back across the rocks, and Miss 
Cherry and the others stood up and cheered and waved their 
paper napkins. 

And there were plenty of good things left after all. Jug¬ 
gins and Joey sat on a rock beside Miss Cherry, with paper 
napkins tucked under their chins, and had all the lobster 
and sandwiches and oranges and cookies that two little 
people could possibly eat. And then while they were eating 
their sugared doughnuts—but this belongs to the next 
chapter! 


CHAPTER VII 


WHO IS THE RED ROBBER? 

While Juggins and Joey were eating their sugared 
doughnuts, they climbed to the top of the little cliff at the 
back of the flat rocks. 

“We can see all the green islands from up here,” said 
Juggins. “P’raps we’ll see the Red Robber hiding some¬ 
where.” 

So they stood under the spruce trees at the edge of the 
cliff, and looked out to sea for the Red Robber. They looked 
up and down the shore of every one of the little green islands, 
but there was nothing moving out there at all. Then suddenly 
something moved quite close to them, and for the first time 
they saw that two other bright eyes were looking out to sea. 
There on the edge of the cliff, very small indeed in front of 
the big ocean, sat Tansy, with his yellow tail curled around 
his toes. 

“Oh,” said Joey, “Granny never lets him go so far away 
from home.” 

“We’ll take him back,” said Juggins. 


77 


78 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

“Come kitty, kitty, kitty,” said Juggins and Joey, to¬ 
gether, slapping their knees. 

But Tansy had no idea of being taken anywhere, and if 
he could have talked, he would have told Joey that he came 



nearly every day by himself through the woods, to sit on the 
cliff—though he never looked for the Red Robber. 

Just as Juggins put out her hand to pick him up, Tansy 
took his tail from around his toes, and slipped from under 
her hand. Then he ran off along the narrow little path at the 






WHO IS THE RED ROBBER? 79 

edge of the cliff, his tail twitching in the air. Juggins ran after 
Tansy, and Joey ran after Juggins. When Juggins and Joey 
ran a little faster, Tansy ran a little faster too, and never 
once could Juggins get her fingers on more than just the 
tip of his fluffy tail. So they played “follow-your-leader,” un¬ 
til the little path took them around the turn of the cliff into 
Back Cove. 

Then just ahead of them, on a flat rock at the very edge 
of the cliff, they saw a cluster of freshly painted little lobster 
buoys, standing in the sun to dry. They had no faces or yellow 
jackets; they were just plain little lobster buoys with green 
stripes around them. 

Tansy went frisking by the lobster buoys and into the 
woods, but Juggins stopped short, for there was a little house 
close by, and the path led right in front of it. 

“It’s Jem Bass’s,” whispered Juggins, standing behind a 
big rock that jutted out into the path, and peeking around it. 
“I guess we’d better go back.” 

But before she and Joey had time to turn and run away, 
the door of the little house opened, and out came Jem Bass 
himself with another fisherman. 

“Oh!” said Juggins, right out loud—for there in Jem 
Bass’s hand, swinging by her rope hair, was Geraldine! 


80 HERE’S JUGGINS 

Luckily, Jem Bass was so busy talking that he did not 
hear Juggins at all. 

“Look here,” said Jem Bass to the other fisherman, “if 
they really want to find out who’s robbing the lobster traps, 
I’ll tell ’em. Do you see this here lobster buoy?”—Juggins 
and Joey, flattened against the other side of the rock, knew 
that Jem must be holding up Geraldine—“Well,” went on 
Jem Bass, “I picked that up floating around out there in the 
fog the other morning, after the traps had been robbed, and 
it’s Tom Tibbetts’ lobster buoy. I tell you he’s the robber.” 

“Tom goes out in a dory still, doesn’t he?” said the other 
fisherman. 

“Sure,” said Jem Bass, “and so does the man who robs 
the traps. Is there anybody else around here who hasn’t got 
a motor-boat?” 

Jem’s voice began to sound farther away now. The men 
were walking along the path into the woods where Tansy 
had gone. In a minute Juggins and Joey could not hear them 
any more. Then Juggins stood up straight in the middle of 
the path. Her cheeks were red, and her little brown hands 
were clenched tight. 

“He’s a wicked, bad man,” she said, with a sob, looking 
at the woods where the fisherman had disappeared. 



There in Jem Bass’s hand was Geraldine. 
































' 

















































































































































WHO IS THE RED ROBBER? 83 

I don’t believe your father’s the Red Robber,” said Joey 
loyally. 

Juggins stared at Joey. 

“Of course my Daddy isn’t!” she said. 

Then suddenly Juggins felt very bad and wicked her¬ 
self. She walked right across the path to the flat rock where 
Jem Bass’s freshly painted little lobster buoys were drying in 
the sun, and with the toe of her sandal she kicked them, one 
by one, off the edge of the cliff, clattery-bang, down among 
the jagged rocks below. 

Joey looked rather scared. 

“Shall we go back to the lobster roast now,” he said. Far 
away on the rocks they could hear the jolly sound of people 
singing. 

“No,” said Juggins. 

All at once Juggins just wanted to see Daddy. And she 
ran into the woods without even waiting to see if Joey was 
coming too. She ran without looking where she was going, 
stumbling over the roots of the trees in her hurry to get back 
to the little gray house. 

So they thought Daddy was the Red Robber, said Jug¬ 
gins over and over to herself as she ran along —her Daddy— 
because she and Daddy hadn’t any motor-boat and because 


84 HERE’S JUGGINS 

Geraldine had been found floating. What would Daddy say 
when he heard it? But no, she shouldn’t ever tell Daddy the 
dreadful thing that Jem Bass had said about him. And Joey 
mustn’t tell either. Juggins looked behind her for Joey, but 
he was not there. He must have gone back to the lobster 
roast. 

When Juggins came out on the road she stopped run¬ 
ning, and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt. She did 
not like to have anybody, even Daddy, see her cry. A lamp 
was already shining cheerfully in the window of the little 
gray house, and when she opened the door, there was Daddy 
at the table finishing his bread and tea, just as if nothing 
at all had happened. Juggins began to feel better right 
away. 

“Hello,” said Daddy. “Does anybody want to row me 
across the harbor to get some bait?” 

“Oh, yes,” said Juggins, with a faint little smile. 

She liked to row Daddy across the harbor, because when 
she did, they always played that he was a young man from the 
city, who did not know anything about boats, and Juggins 
had to help him into the Pea Pod, and tell him where to sit 
and push the boat off all by herself. 

“Well then,” said Daddy, with an extra little twinkle in 


WHO IS THE RED ROBBER? 85 

his eye, “go and get your sweater right away. It’s nearly 
dark.” 

So Juggins ran into the bedroom, and reached up to the 
hook in the corner behind the door, where the little old 



sweater always hung. The sweater wasn’t there, but Juggins 
felt something else on the hook, and when she took it down, 
it was the blue-and-white-check zipper jacket from Mrs. 
Milly Willy’s store! 

“Is it really for me?” said Juggins, standing astonished 



86 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

in the kitchen door. Daddy nodded his head, and then Jug¬ 
gins was so glad that she couldn’t think of anything to say. 

When she had put on the new jacket and had zipped it up 
to the very top, she and Daddy went down to the float and 
got into the Pea Pod. Juggins told Daddy to be sure to sit 
right in the middle of the boat, and not to drag his hands in 
the water. Then she put in her oars and rowed away across 
the harbor. The water was all pink with the sunset, and 
Daddy was a very funny young man from the city, so that 
they had a very nice row indeed. By the time they came home 
with the bait, Juggins was feeling almost quite happy again. 

As she sat on the edge of her little bed taking off her 
sandals, it began to seem to Juggins like a bad dream that 
Jem Bass had said that dreadful thing about Daddy. Then 
just as she put on her little white nightie she thought of some¬ 
thing. If they could only find the real Red Robber, then 
Jem Bass would know it was not Daddy. 

They must begin to-morrow to hunt hard for the Red 
Robber. 

Then Juggins put the little blue-and-white-check jacket 
on the chair beside her, where she could feel of it if she woke 
up in the night—which she never did—and then she hopped 
into bed. 


CHAPTER VIII 


WHAT THEY FOUND ON MAD CAP 

The next morning when Juggins peeked out between the 
blue cotton curtains, she saw that it was misty in the harbor, 
and that outside, by Mad Cap Island, the fog was very thick 
indeed. When Daddy said that it was too thick for them to 
go out to the lobster traps, Juggins looked very sober. It 
would be a wonderful day to hunt for the Red Robber. 

As soon as breakfast was over Daddy went out in front 
of the little gray house to make a new lobster trap. Juggins 
liked to hold the nails and measure the slats when Daddy 
made lobster traps, but this morning she put on her new zip¬ 
per jacket and went to find Joey instead. She wanted to show 
Joey the jacket, and she must be sure that he did not tell 
anybody about the dreadful thing that Jem Bass had said 
about Daddy. 

When she was half way up the little path through the 
pasture she saw Joey coming down. He had on his cork 
jacket again, and he seemed to be in a hurry. 

87 


88 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

“Look!” called Juggins, as Joey came running to meet 
her. She stood in the middle of the path, and zipped the zip¬ 
per up and down and smiled. 

But Joey’s mind was on something else, and he hardly 
looked at the zipper jacket. 

“Hello,” he said. “Granny doesn’t think your father’s 
the Red Robber. And Mr. Ted doesn’t either, or Miss 
Cherry.” 

“Do they all know about it?” said Juggins, her eyes 
round with dismay. 

“Oh, yes,” said Joey, “I guess everybody knows it now.” 

“Oh,” cried Juggins, with a long breath, “then we must 
find the Red Robber. We must find him right away now.” 
And she turned and ran down the little path as fast as she 
could. 

“Granny’s going to do something,” said Joey, panting 
along behind. “Granny says she’s going to give a lot of 
money to any one who finds the Red Robber.” 

But Juggins hardly heard what Joey was saying. She 
was thinking hard of what they could do to find the Red 
Robber. 

“I know,” she said, when they came to the little gray 
house. “We can row down the harbor in the Pea Pod, and 


WHAT THEY FOUND ON MAD CAP 89 

wait at the edge of the fog. Sometimes it goes out very quick, 
and if we are right there, perhaps we’ll see him before he 
can hide.” 

So Juggins and Joey ran down on the float, and began to 
untie the Pea Pod. While they were doing it, Daddy looked 
up from his lobster trap, and then he took his pipe out of 
his mouth. 

“Where are you going?” said Daddy. 

“We’re—we’re going rowing,” said Juggins. 

Daddy looked out to sea, where the wind had driven the 
fog to the very mouth of the harbor; then he looked up at 
the sky. Daddy could always tell about the weather by the 
wind and the sky. 

“All right,” he said. “Only be sure you don’t row beyond 
this end of Mad Cap.” 

Juggins and Joey got into the Pea Pond and pushed off 
from the float. Then Juggins put in the oars and began to 
row down the harbor. The Pea Pod was a wide little boat 
and quite flat, so that it could not possibly tip over, but unless 
you rowed quite well, it was hard to keep it from going 
around in a circle. Juggins was a good strong little rower, 
however, and the Pea Pod went along very smoothly toward 
Mad Cap. There was not so much mist now, and the island 


9 o HERE’S JUGGINS 

could be clearly seen. Joey sat in the stern of the Pea Pod and 
watched Juggins dip the oars up and down. It looked very 
easy. 

“I could do that,” said Joey. “I want to row too.” 



“All right,” said Juggins, “you can row one oar and I’ll 
row the other.” 

So Joey moved over on the seat with Juggins. 

“I’ll count,” said Juggins, “and whenever I say a num¬ 
ber, you must put your oar in.” 

Joey took tight hold of his oar with both hands. 

“ONE,” said Juggins—and, splash, came a shower of 
water all over the boat! 








WHAT THEY FOUND ON MAD CAP 91 

“TWO,” said Juggins—and around went the Pea Pod 
in a circle! 

“THREE,” said Juggins—and up went Joey’s oar into 
the air! 

For Joey had caught a crab—not the kind of crab that 
you put in a salad, but the kind that makes you catch your 
oar in the water and go over backward into the bottom of 
the boat, with your legs waving around. Joey’s waved very 
fast for a minute, because he couldn’t get up in his cork 
jacket. 

“Somebody hit me,” said Joey in a very surprised voice, 
from the bottom of the boat. 

Juggins put down her oar and pulled at the cork jacket. 
Then up came Joey, still looking very surprised. 

“You can row now,” said Joey. And he sat down in the 
stern seat again, and held the sides of the Pea Pod with both 
hands. 

After that Juggins rowed along very smoothly until they 
came to Mad Cap Island. Daddy had said that they must not 
row any farther than this, but the fog had drifted to the outer 
end of Mad Cap, and how could they look for the Red Rob¬ 
ber in here? 

“Let’s land on Mad Cap,” said Juggins. “There’s a beach 


92 HERE’S JUGGINS 

right there. Then we can walk to the end of the island where 
the fog is.” 

So Juggins rowed the Pea Pod up on a little pebbly 
beach, and they both jumped out. They tied the boat by its 
rope to a big stone. Then they started along the shore. There 
were not so many big rocks on this side of the island as there 
were on the other side, where they had been on the day before 
—just pebbles and small stones that did not have to be 
climbed. Once Juggins stopped and picked up some empty 
sea-urchin shells, round dainty little cups that looked as if 
they had come out of a china shop. 

“When Daddy and I have an ice cream cone,” said Jug¬ 
gins, “sometimes we put it in the sea-urchin cups and play 
it’s a party.” 

Juggins dropped the shells into the pockets of her zipper 
jacket, and they ran on until they came to the big rocks at the 
outer end of the island. Juggins and Joey climbed up to the 
top of the rocks and sat down. Just in front of them were 
the pounding surf and the open sea and the fog. It was very 
exciting, but they did not see the Red Robber. 

“That rock’s moving,” said Joey suddenly, pointing to 
the shore below. “Something’s going into the water.” 

Juggins looked. 


WHAT THEY FOUND ON MAD CAP 93 

“The seals!” she cried, jumping up. “They’re the first 
this year. They almost always come to Mad Cap. One—two 
—three—four—five—oh, they’re sliding off! Sh! We mustn’t 
talk.” 

Juggins put her hand over her mouth, but it was too late. 
At the sound of voices the five little gray seals, just the color 
of the rocks, slid quickly off the wet seaweed into the water, 



and then all that Juggins and Joey could see of them were 
the five little round heads bobbing away from shore on top 
of the waves. 

“Oh, dear,” said Juggins, watching them swim away, “I 
know they won’t come back.” 

“But there’s another rock moving down there,” said Joey. 

Through a crack between two big rocks they could cer- 








94 HERE’S JUGGINS 

tainly see something wriggling up and down. Very quietly, 
without saying a word, Juggins and Joey crept down and 
peeked over on the other side. There on the seaweed, its flip¬ 
per caught in a crack of the rocks, was a very little seal. It 
was flopping about on the seaweed, trying to get free, and as 
soon as it saw Juggins and Joey, its big soft eyes grew wild 
with fright, and it flopped so hard that it almost tore its little 
flipper off. 

“Oh, you poor little seal!” said Juggins. And she knelt 
down on the seaweed and put her arm about the slippery 
body. Then she twisted the flipper out from between the 
rocks as gently as she could. 

“I’m going to take it home to show Daddy,” said Juggins, 
standing up with the wriggling seal clasped tight in her 
arms. “I guess I can hold the top of it, but you’ll have to hold 
the tail.” 

So Joey took hold of the tail, and they started back over 
the rocks. As they went over the highest ones, they could look 
across the island to the deserted fisherman’s hut. There was 
no breeze to-day, so the old door was not flapping, but just 
as Juggins and Joey looked at it, it was suddenly pushed 
open from the inside, and a man walked out. Juggins caught 
her breath. 



WHAT THEY FOUND ON MAD CAP 95 
“It’s Jem Bass!” she said. 

Juggins and Joey never knew how they got back to the 
Pea Pod. Not daring to look behind them, to see if Jem 

v 


Bass was coming, they stumbled along over the loose stones 
of the beach, carrying the struggling little seal. It did not 
seem to be quite so frightened now, but it was a very slippery 


96 HERE’S JUGGINS 

little animal, and Juggins and Joey had to hold very tight 
to both ends. At last they came in sight of the Pea Pod. Then 
Juggins stopped short. 

“There’s another boat on the beach,” she said. “What if 
it’s Jem Bass’s!” 

But it wasn’t. It was Mr. Ted’s, and he and Miss Cherry 
were just coming around the end of a big rock. 

As soon as Joey saw them, he was so glad that he dropped 
the tail of the little seal and ran to meet them. But as soon 
as he dropped the tail, the little animal began to slip, slip, 
slip through Juggins’s arms. 

“Oh, somebody come quick!” cried Juggins. And she 
stood still in the middle of the beach, and held on as hard 
as she could. 

Mr. Ted looked over at Juggins. 

“What on earth—!” he began. Then he ran quickly, and 
caught the little seal just as its round head was slipping 
through Juggins’s hands. 

Then Juggins took hold of its tail, and together they put 
it safely at last into the bottom of the Pea Pod. 

When Juggins and Joey had told Mr. Ted and Miss 
Cherry all about the seals, Mr. Ted pushed the Pea Pod into 
the water and helped Juggins and Joey to get in. Then he 


WHAT THEY FOUND ON MAD CAP 97 

pushed them off, and he and Miss Cherry stood on the beach 
and waved, while Juggins rowed the Pea Pod up the harbor. 
There was no mist now, and the fog had gone far out to sea. 
Suddenly Juggins looked very sober. 

“We didn’t see the Red Robber at all,” she said. “We 
shall have to come again.” Then she looked down at the bot¬ 
tom of the boat, where the little seal was flopping about from 
one side to the other, and smiled a little. “But we found some¬ 
thing, any way,” she said. 

“What shall we name it?” said Joey. 

Juggins stopped rowing and leaned on her oars for a 
minute, while she thought of all the names she knew. 

“We could call it Little Orphan Annie,” she said. 

And so they did. 



CHAPTER IX 

SEVERAL THINGS HAPPEN 

Little Orphan Annie spent the night in the bottom of 
the Pea Pod. The first thing the next morning Juggins and 
Joey went fishing, and caught six cunners for her breakfast. 
When they put the cunners into the Pea Pod, Little Orphan 
Annie gobbled them up right away, heads, tails, fins and all. 
But still she did not seem quite happy. She sat at one side of 
the boat, her little round head just above the edge, and looked 
at the water. Whenever Juggins and Joey came near the Pea 
Pod, she flopped about so much that they were afraid she 
would flop right over the side of the boat. 

“Perhaps she wants a drink,” said Joey. 

So Juggins brought a pan of nice cool water from the 
little green pump. Little Orphan Annie could not tell them 
that she did not like fresh water, but the next time she flopped, 
she flopped right into the pan, and upset the water all over 
the inside of the boat. 


98 











SEVERAL THINGS HAPPEN 99 

“Never mind,” said Juggins. “She likes sitting where it’s 
wet any way.” 

“We could bring her some seaweed to sit on,” said Joey. 

So Juggins and Joey ran down on the rocks at the edge 
of the harbor, and brought armfuls of dripping brown sea¬ 
weed, to make a nice bed at one end of the boat. But poor 
Little Orphan Annie just flopped under a seat at the other 
end. 

All day long Juggins and Joey trotted back and forth, 
trying to make Little Orphan Annie happy. They gathered 
rock snails, and dug them out of the shells for her, but she 
turned away her little round head from the snails. They 
brought ever so many small stones and put them under the 
seaweed, to make it look more like Mad Cap Island. Then 
they caught some more cunners. Late in the afternoon Mr. 
Ted and Miss Cherry came with some of their friends to see 
Little Orphan Annie. 

It was a very exciting day, and it was not until Joey 
had gone home, and Juggins had said goodnight to Little 
Orphan Annie and come in for supper, that she noticed 
Daddy’s eyes. There was no twinkle in them at all. Juggins 
had never seen Daddy look just like that before. Could it be 

that he had heard about the dreadful thing that Jem Bass had 

> 

; >c 
> » 

1 ) > 


100 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

said? Daddy never talked very much, but to-night he hardly 
said a word until they had finished their bread and tea. Then 
he said something so nice that Juggins forgot his eyes for a 
little while. 

“Some of the lobster traps need to be mended,” said 
Daddy. “To-morrow we’ll bring them in. And we’ll bring in 
the lobster buoys too and paint them.” 

“Oh, goody!” said Juggins. It was fun having her lobster 
buoy children come home to be painted. She liked to help 
Daddy put them into new yellow jackets, and when they were 
all fresh and gay she sometimes gave them a party. 

The next morning Juggins got up very early, so that she 
would have time to give Little Orphan Annie her breakfast 
and bring her fresh seaweed before Daddy was ready to go 
out in the dory. Little Orphan Annie did not flop quite so 
much this morning, and Juggins hoped that she was getting 
used to her new home. But she did look rather sad, and Jug¬ 
gins waved to her as she and Daddy rowed off down the 
harbor to get the lobster traps. 

When they came back, they brought eight of the lobster 
buoy children with them. There was no fog again this morn¬ 
ing, and no Red Robber to be looked for. The ocean was 
sunny and blue, and Juggins could not help feeling happy as 


SEVERAL THINGS HAPPEN ioi 

she rode home in the dory on top of the lobster traps, with 
her smiling children all around her. 

After dinner she and Daddy set the little lobster buoy 
children in a row on a bench outside the house. Then they 
went into the tiny shed, and Daddy passed the cans of paint 
down from the shelf to Juggins. 

“There’s lots of yellow,” said Juggins, peeking into the 
cans, “but there’s hardly any red. Shall we have to give 
the children blue grins?” 

“We’ll see,” said Daddy. 

Then they each took a brush and set to work. Daddy 
could paint faster than Juggins, because his brush was ever 
so much bigger, but she did Tiny Tim and Mr. Hoover all 
herself. Daddy put painted blue buttons on the front of his 
jackets, and they looked very fine, but Juggins just made a 
blue line up and down Tiny Tim and Mr. Hoover. 

“They’re zipper jackets,” said Juggins. 

When the lobster buoy children were all bright and shin¬ 
ing in their new clothes, Daddy mixed a little turpentine 
with the red paint, and there was enough, after all, to give 
everybody a grin from ear to ear. Tiny Tim and Mr. Hoover 
grinned more than the others—but then, their jackets zipped. 

After Daddy had put away the paints, and gone down 


102 HERE’S JUGGINS 

to his lobster traps on the float, Juggins stood in front of the 
lobster buoy children and thought about Geraldine. What 
had Jem Bass done with poor Geraldine? Was she lying, 
battered and alone, somewhere off on the rocks? Would she 



ever again have a bright yellow jacket and a happy red smile 
like the others? Juggins sighed a little as she thought of 
Geraldine. 

Just then she saw Joey coming down the little path 
through the pasture. He was running as fast as he could in 



SEVERAL THINGS HAPPEN 103 

his cork jacket, and he was waving something white. Jug¬ 
gins ran out into the road. 

“What’s that?” she said, looking at the envelope in Joey’s 
hand. 

“Granny’s written something about the Red Robber. I’ve 
got to take it to the Constable’s,” said Joey, looking very 
important. “Can you come too?” 

“To Amos Alley’s?” said Juggins. She had never in her 
life been to Amos Alley’s door, except with Daddy. 

“Yes,” said Joey. “It’s about catching the Red Robber. 
I guess they’ll get him now.” 

“All right,” said Juggins, “I’ll go.” 

So she and Joey walked along the road, past all the fisher¬ 
men’s houses, until they came to the Constable’s. Amos Alley 
was not sitting on his porch to-day, so they tip-toed up the 
gravel walk, and knocked softly at the kitchen door. Nobody 
came, and they knocked again. They had to knock four 
times before they heard heavy feet coming slowly toward the 
door. Then it was suddenly opened wide, and there stood 
Amos Alley himself, very tall and dark. He looked down at 
Juggins and Joey over his spectacles and grunted, but he 
did not speak. 

“Hello,” said Joey, looking up to the top of Amos Alley, 


104 HERE’S JUGGINS 

and not feeling quite so important, “Granny sent this,” and 
he held out the envelope. 

Amos Alley grunted again and took it. 

“Goodbye,” said Joey quickly, and he turned and ran 
away as fast as he could. 

But Juggins did not move from the door-step. She had not 



heard a word that Joey said, and she was staring right past 
Amos Alley into his house. For, standing on Amos Alley’s 
kitchen shelf, beside his clock, was Geraldine! 

In a moment the door had closed again and Juggins was 
running after Joey, to tell him what she had seen. But al¬ 
though they talked about Geraldine all the way back to the 







SEVERAL THINGS HAPPEN 105 

pasture path, neither of them could think what she could 
possibly be doing in Amos Alley’s kitchen. 

When Juggins came to the little gray house, Daddy was 
leaning on the lobster sign, smoking his pipe and waiting 
for her. She stood beside him while six fishermen went by on 
their way home from Back Cove. 

“Hello,” said Daddy to the fishermen. 

“Hello,” said Juggins too, for she knew them all. 

But the fishermen did not say hello, or even notice Daddy 
and Juggins. They just strode along down the road as if there 
were nobody there. Juggins looked after them in astonish¬ 
ment. Then she looked up at Daddy’s eyes. Then she knew. 
The fishermen all believed that Daddy —her Daddy—was 
the Red Robber, and they would not speak to him any more. 

“Who’s going to get supper?” said Daddy, putting his 
pipe in his pocket. 

Juggins ran fast into the little gray house. But when 
Daddy came into the kitchen, there was nobody putting the 
kettle on for tea, or bringing the bread from the cupboard. 
For Juggins was on her little bed in the corner, with her face 
in the patch-work quilt. 


CHAPTER X 


LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE GOES TO A PARTY 

When Juggins came out into the kitchen the next morn¬ 
ing Daddy was not there, but her bowl of cereal and cup of 
milk were waiting for her on the table. Daddy always left 
them there when he had to go away early. He must have 
thought of Little Orphan Annie too this morning, because 
there were three cunners in a pan on the doorstep. Before 
she ate her breakfast, Juggins took the cunners out of the 
pan, and ran down the rocky little path to the float. 

Little Orphan Annie did not flop at all this morning 
when Juggins climbed into the Pea Pod, and she ate her 
cunners right up, but her eyes seemed bigger and rounder 
than ever, and Juggins thought that she looked a little queer 
and lonesome, sitting in the fog in the bottom of the Pea 
Pod. Juggins brought a handful of fresh seaweed, with a 
crab in it, for Little Orphan Annie. Then she went back to 
the kitchen, and sat down to eat her cereal. 

Juggins wondered where Daddy was. Perhaps he had 
gone to find Barney. She hoped that he would bring Barney 
back with him, for Barney was their best friend, and he 

106 


LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE 


107 



would tell everybody that Daddy couldn’t be the Red Rob¬ 
ber. Juggins felt a little queer and lonesome too, sitting there 
by herself in the little gray house, with the fog outside. So 
she was very glad when she heard footsteps coming across the 


grass from the road. Perhaps it was Daddy with Barney. 
But then she heard a voice, and knew that it was somebody 
else. 

“Go home,” said the voice, “go home, GO HOME.” 

Juggins ran to the door, and there was Joey, with a little 
tin pail in his hand. He was shaking the pail at Tansy, who 
was following behind. 




io8 HERE’S JUGGINS 

“GO HOMEr said Joey again. 

But Tansy, who always did exactly what he liked, had no 
idea of going home, and scampered away through the grass 
after a cricket instead. 

“Look,” said Joey, holding out the pail to Juggins, “I 
picked them in Granny’s garden. They’re for you.” 

“Oh,” said Juggins, looking in, “I love those.” 

The pail was almost full of bouncing big red raspberries. 
Joey looked at the kitchen table. 

“Shall I put them in two saucers?” he said. 

Then Juggins had an idea. 

“No,” she said, “we’ll put them in the sea urchin cups and 
have a party! And the children can come, if they’re dry.” 
And she ran outside to feel of the jackets of the lobster buoy 
children. 

Down the rocky little path through the mist she could see 
the Pea Pod rocking back and forth against the float. 

“I wish Little Orphan Annie could come too,” said Jug¬ 
gins, “I think she needs a party.” 

Then Joey had an idea. 

“We could have the party down on the float,” he said. 

“Yes,” said Juggins. 

So Juggins and Joey carried the lobster buoy children, 


LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE 


109 

two by two by their rope hair, down to the float, and set them 
in a circle as near to the Pea Pod as possible. Then Juggins 
brought the little sea urchin cups and filled them with the 
raspberries. There were exactly eight, so they put one in 
front of each lobster buoy child. There was a big old lobster 
in a pail on the float, and Juggins thought that he should 
come to the party too. So she turned the pail upside down and 
put the lobster on top of it, between two of the lobster buoy 
children. Joey was not sure that he liked this new guest. He 
looked a little too much like Grandfather Lobster. 

“There aren’t any raspberries for him,” said Joey. 

“We can give him some fish bait,” said Juggins. And 
she took a piece out of the dory, and put it on top of the pail 
in front of the lobster. 

Then she caught Tansy, who had come down on the float, 
and put him on another upturned pail, with another piece 
of fish bait. Tansy took one sniff of the bait. Then he jumped 
off the pail, and ran away from the party as fast as he could. 

“I wish Little Orphan Annie could come up here too,” 
said Joey. “She can’t see very well from down there.” 

Juggins looked at Little Orphan Annie in the bottom of 
the Pea Pod. Then she looked at the float, where Daddy’s 
half mended lobster traps lay scattered about. 


no 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

“I know,” said Juggins, “we can take her out and put 
her under a lobster trap. Then she can see everything.” 

So they picked out the biggest of the traps, and dragged 
it over to the Pea Pod. Then Juggins got into the boat, and 
while Joey stood ready with the trap, she clasped Little Or¬ 
phan Annie tight around the middle and lifted her—plop— 
out upon the float. Then down went the lobster trap over 
her, and there was Little Orphan Annie, looking out with 
frightened eyes through the slats of her cage. 

Just as the party was about to begin Juggins thought 
of something else. She ran up the rocky little path and into 
the house. When she came out again she was carrying the 
red plaid sash of her Sunday dress. 

“Little Orphan Annie ought to have something on for 
the party,” said Juggins. And while Joey lifted up the lobster 
trap, she tied the sash under Little Orphan Annie’s chin. 

Then Joey brought another piece of fish bait, and put it in 
the lobster trap, and the party really began. Juggins and 
Joey sat down in the circle and helped the lobster buoy chil¬ 
dren to eat their raspberries out of the sea urchin cups, while 
Little Orphan Annie, who did not like being dressed up, 
flopped around under the lobster trap, and behaved very 
badly indeed. But then, it was her first party. 



She clasped Little Orphan Annie tight around the middle. 















































% 
































LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE 113 

The raspberries were almost eaten up, when Joey sud¬ 
denly pointed to the rocks along shore. 

“Tansy’s going into the ocean 1” he cried. 

There, sure enough, was Tansy at the very edge of the 
rocks, dabbling for something in the water with his paw. 

Juggins and Joey jumped up and ran as fast as they could 
along the shore to the rescue. But Tansy did not want to be 
rescued, and as soon as he saw Juggins and Joey coming, he 
went bounding away over the slippery rocks. Tansy came 
fishing by himself nearly every day, and was quite used to 
slippery rocks. 

But Joey was not. And suddenly his feet went out from 
under him, and down he slid, over the wet seaweed, splash, 
right into the water in his cork jacket. 

“Oh, oh!” cried Joey. 

“Oh, oh, oh!” cried Juggins. 

Joey did not go very far, for the water was not at all 
deep. 

“But I don’t float!” said Joey, holding tight to the sea¬ 
weed. 

“You can’t,” said Juggins, “You’re standing up.” 

Then she took hold of J oey’s hands and pulled him safely 
back on the rocks again. But Joey was very wet indeed, and 


11 4 HERE’S JUGGINS 

he did not want any more party. So he ran away up the little 
path through the pasture to find Granny. 

When Juggins, walking by herself, came around the 
corner of the little gray house, she heard a queer banging 
sound down on the float. Daddy, who was sitting on the 
door-step, heard it too, and he and Juggins ran down the 



rocky little path to see what was the matter. Exciting things 
were going on at the party. Little Orphan Annie’s lobster 
trap was jumping up and down on the float, and inside it poor 
Little Orphan Annie, hung up by her neck-tie on a nail 
and almost choked, was struggling to get free. 

“Oh, dear” cried Juggins. 

She lifted up the lobster trap, and Daddy quickly un¬ 
loosed Little Orphan Annie. He took off her neck-tie and 
put it in his pocket. Then Juggins held her tight to the float, 
while Daddy punched her gently around the throat with his 




LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE 


1 15 

fingers. When they were sure that she was quite all right, 
Juggins pulled out the nail, and put the trap over her again. 
Then she shook her finger at Little Orphan Annie. 

“If you flop any more,” said Juggins through the slats, 
“I shall put you right to bed in the Pea Pod.” 

But when Little Orphan Annie’s bed-time came that 
night, she did not go to bed in the Pea Pod at all. 




CHAPTER XI 


SOMETHING IN A SHELL 

Daddy did not say a word all the time that he and Jug¬ 
gins were eating their dinner, and as soon as they had finished 



it he went right away. Juggins sat down on the door-step to 
wait for Joey, but Joey did not come, and after a while she 
began to feel a little lonesome again. Then all at once she 

116 

















SOMETHING IN A SHELL 


117 

thought that she would go to see Mrs. Milly Willy, and she 
would take the overalls that Daddy had left on the chair 
because they needed a patch. Mrs. Milly Willy was always 
a very cheerful person to go to see, and she knew a great 
deal about patches. Juggins could sew on buttons nicely for 
Daddy, but sometimes her patches looked a little queer. 

So she took the overalls and started off along the road 
that led to the end of the harbor. Perhaps, thought Juggins, 
she might meet Daddy or Mr. Ted or somebody. But there 
was nobody to be seen on the road or around the fishermen’s 
cottages. When she came to the Constable’s house she won¬ 
dered if poor Geraldine was still standing up there beside the 
kitchen clock. Amos Alley was not on his porch to-day, but 
there was a white card stuck on the outside of his gate with a 
thumb tack. Juggins stopped to see what was printed on 
the card, and this is what she read: 

$50 REWARD! 

WILL BE PAID TO THE PERSON 
WHO DISCOVERS AND IDENTIFIES THE 
ROBBER WHO IS STEALING LOBSTERS 
FROM THE BLUE HARBOR TRAPS 

(signed) ELIZABETH ELIOT 
AMOS ALLEY 


n8 HERE’S JUGGINS 

Juggins was sure that this must be what Joey had 
brought in the envelope to Amos Alley from his Granny. 
She spelled out the long words to herself several times. She 
did not know what they all meant, but Joey had said that 
his Granny was going to give a lot of money to catch the 
Red Robber, and the card must be about that. Juggins 
stared at the figures at the top, and wondered how a per¬ 
son who had fifty dollars would really feel. Everybody 
would try now to catch the Red Robber. Perhaps they were 
all out looking for him in the fog, and would find him this 
very afternoon. Then every one would know right away 
that it wasn’t Daddy. Thinking about this, Juggins skipped 
along the road to Mrs. Milly Willy’s store. 

There was nobody in the store except Muffin and the 
kittens. The fluff balls had their eyes open now and were 
crawling about the floor. Juggins patted them and told 
them that she would bring another cunner very soon. Then 
she looked through the door behind the counter that led 
into Mrs. Milly Willy’s little kitchen, and there was Mrs. 
Milly Willy, in a fresh pink cotton dress, sitting at the table 
with her hooked rug. Even on foggy days Mrs. Milly 
Willy’s kitchen seemed full of sunshine, for there was golden 
glow outside both the little windows, and two yellow canaries 


SOMETHING IN A SHELL 


119 

were always singing in their cages. To-day Mrs. Milly 
Willy’s shiny little tea-kettle was singing away on the stove 
too. When it was damp Mrs. Milly Willy always made her¬ 
self a cup of afternoon tea. Juggins stood in the doorway, 
holding the overalls behind her. 

“Hello,” she said. 

“Bless my soul!” said Mrs. Milly Willy, looking up 
with a smile all over her round, merry old face. “Whatever 
do you want in my store!” 

“It begins with a P,” said Juggins, smiling back at Mrs. 
Milly Willy. This was a game that Juggins and Mrs. Milly 
Willy played together very often. 

“Potatoes,” said Mrs. Milly Willy. 

“No,” said Juggins, shaking her head. 

“Pumpkin Pies,” said Mrs. Milly Willy. 

“No,” said Juggins, shaking her head again. 

“Prunes and Pickled Pigsfeet,” said Mrs. Milly Willy. 

“No,” said Juggins shaking her head harder than 
ever. 

“Give it up,” said Mrs. Milly Willy. 

Then Juggins held Daddy’s overalls up in front of her, 
where Mrs. Milly Willy could see the big hole in the knee. 

“Patch!” cried Mrs. Milly Willy. 


120 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

“Yes,” said Juggins. 

Then they both laughed, and Mrs. Milly Willy got up 
from her chair and walked across the kitchen into the little 
closet where the rag-bag hung. Juggins thought that Mrs. 
Milly Willy’s rag-bag must be a magic one, for whenever 
Mrs. Milly Willy put her hand into it, a piece of cloth just 
the right color always came out. In a moment Mrs. Milly 
Willy came back across the kitchen with a square of overall 
blue in her hand. Then Juggins sat down on a chair close by 
Mrs. Milly Willy’s, and watched her set and baste the patch 
on the overalls, with plump, deft fingers. 

“Now you must sew it yourself,” said Mrs. Milly Willy, 
“while I make my tea.” 

So Juggins took the overalls and Mrs. Milly Willy’s 

thimble, and, with the heels of her sandals on the rung of 
the chair, began to sew around the patch. She did not get 

on very fast, because after every few stitches Mrs. Milly 
Willy’s big thimble dropped off her finger down upon the 
floor, and she had to stop and get it again. After a while 
Mrs. Milly Willy sat down with her tea. 

“Did you like to sew patches when you were a little girl?” 
asked Juggins, with a sigh, as she went after the thimble 
for the sixth time. 


SOMETHING IN A SHELL 


121 


“No,” said Mrs. Milly Willy, sipping her tea, “but I 
wasn’t even five years old when I set my first patch.” 

“All by yourself?” said Juggins, astonished. 

“Yes,” said Mrs Milly Willy, with a chuckle, “and I got 
sent to bed for it too.” 

“Why?” said Juggins, looking at Mrs. Milly Willy in¬ 



stead of at the patch. She never could remember to keep 
on sewing when Mrs. Milly Willy began to tell a story. 

“Well,” said Mrs. Milly Willy, “it was my old Aunt 
Dorcas who taught me to sew when I was a wee tiny child. 
She was very strict, and I was a wilful young one, and I 
ran away from my sewing whenever I could. One day I 





























122 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

heard Aunt tell my Dad that if I lived to be a hundred, she 
was sure I’d not learn to mend his clothes for him, because 
I would never sew all around a patch without running 
away. 

“Now there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for my Dad, 
small as I was. So that afternoon, when I found his old jeans 
on a chair with a hole in them, I thought I would show him 
that I could make a patch all myself, in spite of Aunt. But 
I had nothing to make a patch with, and Aunt kept her rag¬ 
bag locked up in her own closet, and I couldn’t think where 
I could get any cloth. Then all at once I saw my apron 
strings, and thought that Aunt wouldn’t notice if one was 
a little shorter than the other. So I got the scissors and cut 
off a good piece at the end. 

“My apron was pink, but I set the piece on Dad’s jeans 
as straight as I could, and then I sewed it round and round 
and round, until my little fingers were all pricked up. And 
funny enough it looked on Dad’s old blue jeans, though I 
thought it was beautiful. But I forgot nobody could help 
seeing the patch, even if they didn’t notice the apron 
strings! Aunt’s sharp eyes were the very first to see it, and 
off I went to bed without my supper, for spoiling my 
apron. 


SOMETHING IN A SHELL 123 

“But while I was lying there crying in my little bed, 
up came Dad, secret-like, with a popover and a cookie for 
me in his pocket, and he told me he liked the patch, and if 
I’d be a good girl and mind Aunt, the next time he went to 
Boston in the schooner he’d bring me something fine.” 

“Did he?” said Juggins. 

“Sure he did,” said Mrs. Milly Willy. “And it was some¬ 
thing so fine that after that I could finish a patch without 
once putting it down.” 

“What was it?” said Juggins. 

Mrs. Milly Willy smiled at Juggins again all over her 
merry old face. 

“It begins with T” said Mrs. Milly Willy. 

“Tea-set,” said Juggins. 

“No,” said Mrs. Milly Willy. 

Juggins wrinkled her forehead and thought, but she 
could not think of any other nice thing that began with 
a T. 

“Give it up!” said Juggins. 

“Oh, oh,” laughed Mrs. Milly Willy, shaking her finger 
at Juggins. 

But she put down her cup of tea, and walked over to 
the closet, and took something out of a box on the shelf. 


124 HERE’S JUGGINS 

“If I let you look at it, will you finish your patch?” 

said Mrs. Milly Willy. 

% 

“Oh, yes,” said Juggins. 

So Mrs. Milly Willy opened her hand, and there was a 
funny little double shell, with a hinge on one edge and a 
hook on the other. 

“But shell begins with an S," said Juggins. 

“Look inside,” said Mrs. Milly Willy, giving Juggins 
the shell. 

Juggins unfastened the little hook. 

“Thimble!” she said. For there it was—a very small 
silver thimble in a nest of red velvet. Juggins thought it was 
prettier than anything she had ever seen. 

“Shall I put it on, Mrs. Milly Willy?” said Juggins. 

“Sure,” said Mrs. Milly Willy. And she went out into 
the store to wait on a customer. 

So Juggins put the little thimble on her finger, and it 
fitted as if it had been bought for her, instead of for the 
little Milly who did not like to sew patches either. Then 
Juggins picked up the overalls, and began to make stitches 
as fast as she could. And as the little thimble did not drop 
off at all, she finished her patch in a very few minutes. 

When it was done Juggins did not want to take the little 


SOMETHING IN A SHELL 125 

thimble off, because it looked so nice on her finger, but 
after a minute she put it carefully away in the shell and 
hooked the hook. Then she went out into the store, where 
Mrs. Milly Willy was sitting behind the counter. 

“Shall I put the thimble back on the shelf?” said Juggins. 

“No,” said Mrs. Milly Willy. 

So Juggins put it on the counter. 

Then Mrs. Milly Willy took the overalls and looked at 
them. She seemed to like the patch, for she nodded her head, 
and opened the glass case and took out a gum-drop, which 
she popped right into Juggins’ mouth. Then she folded 
the overalls—and put the shell, little thimble and all, right 
into one of the pockets! 

“We must push it way down in,” said Mrs. Milly Willy, 
“so it won’t fall out on your way home.” 

“Am I going to take it home?” said Juggins, looking 
up at Mrs. Milly Willy with round, shining eyes. 

“Sure,” said Mrs. Milly Willy. “Now run along with 
you.” 

“Oh, thank you, Mrs. Milly Willy,” said Juggins. 

Then she ran, for she wanted to show the little thimble 
to Daddy as soon as ever she could. 


CHAPTER XII 


“IT LOOKS LIKE TOM” 

As soon as Juggins came out of Mrs. Milly Willy’s 
store, she saw that there were some fishermen around 
Barney’s new boat in the little open shed at the edge of 
the harbor. The mist was too thick for her to see who the 
fishermen were, but she thought that one of them was 
Daddy. So, holding tight the overalls and the precious 
thimble, she ran down over the grass to find him. 

But when she came to the little shed and looked in, 
neither Daddy nor Barney was there. The other fishermen 
were walking around the boat, running their hands over 
its curving sides, and rapping it here and there with their 
knuckles. One of them said that it was the finest boat he 
had ever seen. 

Juggins thought so too. It was all painted now, gleam¬ 
ing white, with a band of blue around the edge, and up in 
the prow Barney had put a little carved white figure, with 
its arms stretched out toward the sea. 


126 



The other fishermen were walking around the boat. 



































“IT LOOKS LIKE TOM” 129 

“Oh,” said Juggins under her breath, when she saw it. 
She thought that it looked like a real little fairy. 

She tip-toed around behind the fishermen, so that she 
could look at it closer, and then she saw something else. On 
the side of the boat, right under the little figure, Barney had 
painted the name: 

JOLLY JOEY 

Juggins caught her breath as she spelled out the words. 
Wouldn’t Joey be happy! His own name on that wonderful 
boat! Juggins ran her fingers along the letters, and reached 
up and touched the little white figure. Then she heard 
Barney’s voice behind her, and when she turned, there was 
Daddy too. She was so glad to see him that this time she 
did not notice that none of the fishermen spoke to him, al¬ 
though they all said hello to Barney. 

“Oh, Daddy,” cried Juggins, running to him, and hold¬ 
ing out the overalls, “see the patch I made for you, and see 
what Mrs. Milly Willy gave me.” 

Juggins put her hand into the pocket of the overalls and 
felt around for the shell, but Mrs. Milly Willy had pushed 
it down very deep, and when Juggins finally pulled it out, 
she pulled out also the red plaid sash of her Sunday dress, 
which Daddy had stuffed into his pocket when he took it 


130 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

from Little Orphan Annie’s neck. Juggins threw the sash 
over the edge of the boat, and held out the shell to Daddy. 

“Look,” she began, “it opens like—” 

And then she suddenly stopped. For Daddy was not 
looking at her or at the shell. He was looking straight at 
the fishermen on the other side of the boat, and the fisher¬ 
men were all staring at her red sash. 

For a moment nobody spoke, but Daddy and everybody 
else looked very queer. Juggins felt that something dreadful 
was going to happen, and she took hold of Daddy’s hand. 
Then one of the fishermen shrugged his shoulders. 

“It looks like Tom all right,” he said, jerking his thumb 
at the red sash. 

“Right out of his own pocket too,” said another fisher¬ 
man. 

Juggins stared at the sash and at the fishermen. What 
did they mean? Then Barney, who was standing on the 
other side of Daddy spoke. 

“You boys are crazy,” said Barney, bringing his fist 
down on the edge of the boat. “You ought to know that’s 
the sash of a child’s dress, not the Red Robber’s scarf, and 
you ought to know that Tom Tibbetts would never touch 
a lobster that didn’t belong to him.” 


“IT LOOKS LIKE TOM” 


131 

“Oh, yeah?” said a third fisherman, shrugging his 
shoulders. “Well, that robber was seen out there this morn¬ 
ing in the fog, and he had on a scarf just like that one.” The 
fisherman pointed to the sash. “Did anybody see Tom around 
anywhere else early this morning?” he added. The other 
fishermen all shook their heads. 

“And the robber comes in a dory,” said a fourth fisher¬ 
man. “Is there anybody else here who still goes out to sea 
in a dory except Tom Tibbetts?” The fishermen shook their 
heads again. 

“And Amos Alley has a lobster buoy over at his house 
now,” said the first fisherman again, “that belongs to Tom. 
It was picked up floating the other day just where the traps 
had been robbed. Amos Alley has been keeping it till we 
should find out something else—and I guess we’ve found 
it now. Suppose you come along with us over to Amos’s, 
Tom.” 

Juggins, terribly frightened, had been looking from one 
to the other, and holding tight to Daddy’s hand. Suddenly 
she forgot to be afraid. 

“That is my sash,” she said, stamping her sandal on the 
floor of the shed, and looking right over the boat at the 
fishermen, “and my Daddy isn’t the Red Robber.” 


132 HERE’S JUGGINS 

When she said this Daddy looked down at her for the 
first time, but his face was not like Daddy’s at all. 

“Lucy Belle,” he said, “I want you to run home now. I 
will come in a little while.” 

Then Juggins was more frightened than ever, for Daddy 
never called her Lucy Belle except when things were very 
solemn indeed. Long ago when she was little, and had cut 
a new fish net with a knife, he had called her that, and also 
one other time, when they had gone to Portland to see old 
Great-aunt Ann, and she had not wanted to be kissed. 

Juggins thought that Daddy looked now exactly the 
way he had looked at Great-aunt Ann’s, so she walked very 
slowly out of the shed and across the grass. She did not 
want to go away, back to the little gray house alone, and 
leave Daddy with these cruel fishermen, and her eyes were 
so blinky that she could hardly see where she was going. 
Also there was a dreadful lump that she had to keep swal¬ 
lowing. But she walked straight ahead, and did not turn 
around until she came to the road. She was afraid she might 
see them taking Daddy to the Constable’s. 

In front of Mrs. Milly Willy’s, however, she wiped her 
eyes on her sleeve and looked quickly back. The men were 
still all around the boat, and Barney was standing close to 


“IT LOOKS LIKE TOM” 



Miss Cherry waving to her from the pasture. She did not even 
notice that she had left Daddy’s overalls and the precious 
shell behind her in the shed. It was hours before she thought 
of her little thimble again, because of all the things that 
went on happening in this strange afternoon. 

The next thing happened when Juggins came to the 


133 

Daddy. That made Juggins feel a little better, but the lump 
was still there. As she ran on, she did not see Mrs. Milly 
Willy out behind the store feeding her ducks, or Mr. Ted and 



134 HERE’S JUGGINS 

high place in the road just beyond Amos Alley’s. The fog 
was not quite so thick, and over the roofs of the other fisher¬ 
men’s houses she could see her own little gray house, and 
the float at the edge of the harbor. As soon as she looked 
at the float, Juggins saw something that made her stand still 
right in the middle of the road. For Joey was down on the 
float in his cork jacket, and he had just taken the big old 
lobster trap from over Little Orphan Annie, and was trying 
to lift her back into the Pea Pod. 

Now it was hard enough for two people to hold Little 
Orphan Annie, but for one person, with a cork jacket stick¬ 
ing out in front, it was impossible. Joey’s fingers barely 
went around Little Orphan Annie, and Juggins, far away 
on the road, saw her begin to slip, slip, slip through his 
arms. Joey clutched and clutched, but it was of no use. 
Little Orphan Annie went right on slipping, until she 
slipped—plop—right out of his arms and off the float into 
the water. In another moment she was swimming away, her 
little gray head bobbing on top of the harbor. 

Juggins did not stop to see what Joey did next. She ran 
like mad down the hill and along the road to the little gray 
house. But when she came around the corner in sight of 
the float again, something else had happened! 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE RED ROBBER AT LAST 

Joey had gone after Little Orphan Annie in the Pea 
Pod! When Juggins came running down the rocky little 
path, he was already far out from the float, and he had lost 
one of the oars overboard. Juggins could still see Little 
Orphan Annie’s round head swimming away into the fog, 
but Joey was not catching up with her at all. He was sitting 
in the middle seat, trying to row with one oar, and the Pea 
Pod was going around in a circle. 

“Paddle back here,” shouted Juggins. 

“I can’t,” Joey shouted back. “The boat won’t.” 

Then Juggins saw that the Pea Pod was beginning to 
drift down the harbor. The tide was running out very fast, 
and although Joey kept on going around in circles, he went 
farther and farther away into the fog all the time. After a 
minute Juggins could only just see his one oar going up and 
down like the arm of a windmill. 

“Oh, dear!” cried Juggins, clasping her hands. 

What should she do? Somebody must go after Joey right 


135 


i 3 6 HERE’S JUGGINS 

away. But who? Juggins looked up at the road and along 
the shore. She could not see very far on account of the fog, 
but there was not a person in sight, and she knew that Daddy 
and Barney were far away. Then she looked at the dory. 



She had never in her life been out in it all alone by herself, 
because Daddy said that it was much too heavy for her to 
row. By this time Joey and the Pea Pod had drifted so far 
into the fog that she could hardly see them at all. 

Juggins ran over to the dory and began to untie it as 
fast as she could. The big rope was heavy and wet, and it 










THE RED ROBBER AT LAST 137 

seemed as if the knot never would come loose. But at last it 
did, and Juggins jumped into the dory and pushed it away 
from the float. Luckily Daddy had left the oars, and in a 
minute Juggins was standing up in the middle, just the way 
Daddy did, and rowing slowly out into the harbor. The 
oars were big and hard to lift, but she remembered what 
Daddy had said about all Tibbettses having fine strong 
muscles in their arms to row with, and she pushed and 
pushed, although her face grew hotter and her breath 
shorter with every push. 

“Joey,” she shouted between strokes, “where are you? 
I’m coming in the dory.” And somewhere in the fog she 
could just hear Joey calling: 

“I’m over here.” 

Soon Juggins had rowed so far out into the harbor that 
the dory began to drift with the tide too, and they went much 
faster. Then suddenly through the mist she saw the outline 
of the Pea Pod, with Joey still splashing the oar up and down. 

In a minute the dory and the Pea Pod were side by side. 

“You must get in here,” said Juggins. And leaning over, 
she held the two boats together, while Joey scrambled into 
the dory. Then Juggins took the rope of the Pea Pod and 
tied it to one end of the dory, so that they could tow it home. 


138 HERE’S JUGGINS 

“Where’s Little Orphan Annie?” said Joey, as soon as 
he was safely in the big boat. 

Juggins and Joey stood in the middle of the dory, and 
looked all around in the circle of fog, but as far as they 
could see, there was no little gray head swimming on the 
water. 

“I think she went that way,” said Joey, pointing. 

“We can’t go out any farther in the fog,” said Juggins. 
“It’s coming in thicker than ever. I guess we’ll have to go 
home.” 

She looked very sober, for she did want to find Little 
Orphan Annie, but she was a good fisherman, and she knew 
the danger of going into the fog. So she picked up the big 
oars again and began to row for the float. It was harder 
than ever now, because she had to row against the tide. 
Juggins pushed and pushed at the oars, while Joey sat on 
the opposite seat, and looked back over the water for Little 
Orphan Annie. 

“Your face is awf’ly red,” said Joey after a few minutes. 

Juggins dropped one of the oars and wiped her forehead, 
but when she stopped rowing she heard a sound that made 
her look more sober than ever. It was the sound of waves 
off at one side, breaking on the rocks, and Juggins knew 


THE RED ROBBER AT LAST 


139 


that they must be the rocks of Mad Cap Island. The dory 
had drifted to the very mouth of the harbor, and the strong 
tide was carrying them out to sea faster than she could row 
the boat home. Now that she was not rowing, Juggins could 



see how swiftly the tide was running and the dory with it. 
She knew that that was how Mad Cap got its name—the 
tide rushed so madly by the island on its way out. 

Quickly Juggins picked up the oars again and pushed 
with all her might. Her face grew hotter and redder than 



140 HERE’S JUGGINS 

ever, as she tried to force the heavy dory against the tide. 
She could not see the shore because of the fog, so she was 
not sure whether they were going ahead, but after a little 
while she knew that they were not, for she could hear the 
waves breaking now back where they had come from, instead 
of off at one side. The dory had drifted right out into the 
open ocean, beyond Mad Cap Island. 

“When are we going to get home?” said Joey, holding 
to the sides of the dory, for the sea was rougher now. 

“I don’t know,” said Juggins, her heart beating fast, as 
she struggled with the oars. 

She had given up trying to row the dory ahead. All she 
could do now was to keep it pointed into the waves, so that 
the water should not come over the side of the boat. Juggins 
was used to being out on the ocean, and she was not very 
much afraid, except of the fog. Perhaps some fishermen 
would come along soon and pick them up. If only the fog 
would go out, somebody would be sure to see them right 
away. She listened for the sound of a motor somewhere in 
the mist, but she could not hear any. Perhaps when the tide 
turned she could row in herself. Juggins hoped that it would 
turn before they had drifted too far, for her arms were tired, 
and it was a little scary out there alone with Joey in the fog. 


THE RED ROBBER AT LAST 141 

Just then she saw a little yellow spot on the top of a wave, 
and then another and another. 

“Oh, look,’’ she said. For there were her own lobster buoy 
children dancing merrily on top of the water! It did not seem 
to Juggins half so far away from home now, with the family 
all around. But Joey did not look at the lobster buoy chil¬ 
dren. He suddenly stood up in the middle of the dory. 

“There’s somebody,” he said, pointing ahead. 

Juggins turned, and there indeed was a boat, quite close 
to them in the mist. It was another dory, and the fisherman 
in it was just leaning over to take in a lobster trap. 

“He’s pulling one of our traps!” whispered Juggins, 
astonished. 

Sure enough, on the end of the rope that he was pulling 
was a lobster buoy with a bright yellow jacket and a grin. 
At that moment the fisherman stood up straight in his dory, 
with the lobster trap in his arms, and Juggins and Joey both 
squealed right out loud-^for around the fisherman’s neck, 
and up to his very ears, was a bright red scarf! 

IT WAS THE RED ROBBER! 

At the sound of the squeals behind him, the fisherman 
dropped the lobster trap back into the water with a splash, 
and quickly reached for his oars, without once looking to 


142 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

see who was behind him. But just for a moment Juggins 
and Joey saw the face within the scarf. And when they saw 
it they squealed again—for at last they knew just who the 
Red Robber was! 


CHAPTER XIV 


ADRIFT 

The face that they saw in the red scarf was the squinty, 
scowly face of Jem Bass. 

Jem Bass was the Red Robber! 

Juggins and Joey were so surprised that for a moment 
they almost forgot where they were. But when the other 
dory began to move away quickly into the mist, Juggins 
felt all at once much more afraid of the fog than of the Red 
Robber. 

“Jem Bass,” she called as loud as she could, “we can’t 
row in. Oh, Jem, won’t you please take us home?” 

But the Red Robber was gone. He had slipped silently 
away into the mist, without once looking around. Juggins 
began to row as hard as she could toward the spot where 
the other dory had disappeared. 

“Oh, Jem,” she cried again, with a little sob, “come back. 
Oh, please come back!” 

When Joey saw that Juggins was really frightened, he 
began to be frightened too. 


143 


144 


HERE’S JUGGINS 

“I—I want to go home,” said Joey, looking very white 
and little in the middle of the big seat. “I want to go home 
now.” 

“We can’t,” said Juggins, “but my Daddy will come and 
get us. We must listen hard for a motor-boat.” 

“Your Daddy hasn’t got a motor-boat,” said Joey. 

“No,” said Juggins, “but I know my Daddy will 
come.” 

So they listened as hard as they could. Once they heard 
gulls screaming overhead, and once there was a bang that 
made them both jump, but it was only the Pea Pod that had 
been bumped against the dory by a heavy wave. 

It was getting much rougher, and Juggins had all she 
could do to stand up in the middle of the boat. The dory 
went up and down, and up and down, and up and down, 
and every minute it was harder to keep it pointed into the 
waves with the heavy oars. But Juggins knew that she must. 
Good fishermen always stood by their oars, and Daddy had 
said that she was a good fisherman. 

So they went on and on over the waves. Juggins did not 
know where they were, or how fast they were drifting. It 
seemed to her that she and Joey were the only people in the 
world—a queer little round world, shut in by gray walls 


ADRIFT 


145 

of mist and with a waving floor. All at once Juggins thought 
of something dreadful. What if they should drift out and 
out, beyond the green islands and out of sight of land, where 
Daddy could not find them at all. When she thought of this, 
Juggins began to push the oars again. But after a minute 
she stopped. Perhaps she was just rowing them farther out 
to sea. 

It was darker, and the fog all around looked thicker. 
After a while it began to rain. Juggins held the oars with one 
hand, and reached down and pulled the slickers and sou’- 
westers out from under the seat. She put on hers, and Joey 
put on Daddy’s. The rain splashed down into Juggins’s face, 
and ran in little streams from the brim of her sou’wester, so 
that she could hardly see the waves ahead. It ran in streams 
from Joey’s too, right into his lap, as he slid about on the 
wet seat. Joey’s face looked smaller and whiter than ever, 
with Daddy’s big sou’wester pulled down over his ears. Be¬ 
fore long he slid right off the seat into the bottom of the boat, 
in a miserable wet little heap. 

“Oh, dear, oh, dear,” sobbed Juggins. She did hope that 
Daddy would come very soon. 

Just then above the rain and the waves there was a faint 
clanging sound from somewhere out in the fog. When 


146 HERE’S JUGGINS 

Juggins heard it she stopped sobbing and listened. She knew 
that it was the sound of the little black bell-buoy that she 
could hear at night, when she was at home in her own little 
bed. After all, then, they were not away out beyond the green 
islands where Daddy could not find them, but not very far 
from Mad Cap! 

With a glad little catch of her breath, Juggins shook the 
water from her sou’wester and began to row toward the 
sound of the bell. Her arms did not feel half so tired, now 
that she knew where they were. Sometimes the bell seemed 
to be on one side of them and sometimes it seemed to be on 
the other, but after a while the sound came nearer, and then 
all at once there was the bell-buoy itself, just ahead of them 
in the fog, rising and falling with the waves, like a tall black 
spider on top of the water. 

As the dory slid by the bell-buoy, Juggins dropped the 
oars and caught one of the iron legs with both her hands. It 
was like finding an old friend in the middle of that lonesome 
ocean. 

“We must stay here with it, Joey,” said Juggins, cling¬ 
ing to the bell-buoy over the side of the dory. “Then we 
shan’t be lost any more.” 

But Joey did not even look up. He was sitting in the 


ADRIFT 147 

bottom of the boat, crying softly to himself, with his face 
in the sleeves of Daddy’s slicker. 

The dory and the bell-buoy went up and down, and up 
and down. They banged against each other, and Juggins felt 
as if her arms were going to be jerked out, but she did not 
let go. After a while the sharp little barnacles all over the 
bell-buoy began to cut into her hands. Then all at once she 
thought ohsomething. She could tie the dory to the bell-buoy. 

“Joey,” said Juggins, “you must get the rope. I can’t 
let go.” 

So Joey lifted his head from the sleeves of the slicker, 
and crawled along until he could reach the rope and hand it 
to Juggins. He did not feel half so much like crying, now 
that he was helping. Juggins tied the rope to the leg of the 
bell-buoy with a good square knot. When she was very little 
Daddy had shown her all about tying boats. Then she and 
Joey sat down on the seat, and the dory and the bell-buoy 
went up and down and up and down in the rough sea, but 
Juggins felt ever so much safer. Daddy must be out hunting 
for them now. If only she could let him know that they were 
there. 

Then Juggins thought of something else. She picked up 
an oar and struck the handle of it—bang—against the bell. 


148 HERE’S JUGGINS 

It made a queer loud sound. She struck again, and over and 
over, bang, bang, bang-bang-bang. 

“I want to do that,” said Joey. 

So Joey took the other oar, and struck the bell too— 
bang, bang, bang-bang-bang—bang, bang, bang-bang-bang. 
Together they made a very loud noise indeed. Sometimes 
Joey struck other things besides the bell. He struck the side 
of the dory, he struck the brim of Juggins’s sou’wester, so 
that it flew off into the water, and finally he struck his own 
hand on the edge of the boat. 

“Ouch!” screamed Joey. 

Then for a little while there was such a loud noise that 
neither Juggins nor Joey heard the chug-chug of a motor- 
boat, until it came out of the fog in front of them. 

“Oh, Daddy, Daddy!” cried Juggins, dropping the oar, 
and holding out both arms. 

For standing up in the motor-boat, tall and grave, were 
Daddy and Barney. 

“We caught the Red Robber,” shouted Joey, before 
Barney had time even to stop his engine. 

“Yes,” shouted Juggins, “and it’s Jem Bass!” 

And Daddy and Barney looked as if they couldn’t be¬ 
lieve their ears! 



The dory and the bell-buoy went up and down. 













4 


ADRIFT 


15 1 

In a moment they were close to the dory, and Daddy had 
lifted Juggins and Joey over the side of the motor-boat. 
Then as soon as Barney had tied the dory and the Pea Pod 
on behind, off they went, chug-chug-chugging for the har¬ 
bor. 

Juggins and Joey sat close on either side of Daddy, and 
told about everything that had happened, and before they 
had finished Juggins noticed that Daddy’s eyes were quite 
all right again. The twinkle had come back. 

“Did my banging make a grand loud noise?” said 
Juggins. 

Daddy nodded his head and pinched her cheek, as he 
always did when he was very much pleased. 

“I made a noise too,” said Joey. 

“Sure you did,” said Daddy, and he pinched Joey’s cheek 

too. 

It had stopped raining, and the fog was lifting when they 
came into the harbor. As they went by Mad Cap Island some 
seals slipped off the rocks into the water, and Juggins could 
see that one of them was much smaller than the others. 

“Oh, dear,” she cried, sitting up very straight. “It’s Little 
Orphan Annie, and I want her!” 

“Don’t you want to get home?” said Daddy. 


152 


HERE’S JUGGINS 
“Oh, yes,” said Juggins. 

“Well, perhaps Little Orphan Annie did too,” said 
Daddy. “Home’s a good place.” 



Juggins looked up the harbor. The clouds were sailing 
away, and the windows of the little gray house gleamed at 
her in the sunset, like two bright cheerful eyes. Then she 
looked back at Mad Cap. 

“I guess I’ll let Little Orphan Annie go home,” said 
Juggins. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE BOAT IS LAUNCHED 

The next day was very exciting. It seemed to Juggins 
that nearly everybody in Blue Harbor came to the little gray 
house. First of all, early in the morning, Barney came to say 
that Jem Bass had run away, and that nobody knew where 
he had gone. The whole village was hunting for the place 
where he must have hidden his stolen lobsters, said Barney. 

Then other fishermen came, and some of them were the 
same ones who had been in Barney’s shed the day before, 
and they slapped Daddy on the shoulder and said that they 
were very glad indeed that he was not the Red Robber. One 
of them patted Juggins on the head, and told Daddy that 
he ought to be proud to have such a fine little seaman, and 
Daddy smiled at Juggins and said that he was. That made 
her very happy, though she turned away her head. 

Late in the afternoon Madame Eliot stopped in her car, 

on the way home from her drive. She had Mr. Ted and Miss 

Cherry with her, and they all shook hands with Daddy, 

153 


154 HERE’S JUGGINS 

and said that Juggins was the bravest little girl in Blue 
Harbor. Then they carried her away with them, to have 
supper with Joey. 

Last of all, at bed-time, Barney came again, to tell Jug¬ 
gins and Daddy that the new motor-boat would be launched 
the next afternoon, and he brought with him the little thimble 
in a shell, which Juggins had left in the shed. So that was 
all right. There would be exciting things to-morrow too, 
thought Juggins, as she hopped into bed. But she did not 
guess at all how exciting they would be. 

They began the very first thing in the morning. Before 
she opened her eyes she could feel something heavy on her 
toes, and when she sat up and looked—there on top of the 
patch-work quilt was Geraldine! She had come home at 
last. Juggins held her favorite child at arms’ length and 
looked her all over. Geraldine’s yellow jacket was peeling and 
her rope hair was frayed, but her grin was still there, and her 
saucy little nose. Juggins gave Geraldine a real hug. Then 
she put her on the chair, and jumped out of bed and began 
to dress as fast as she could, for she had slept late and the 
sun was high. Geraldine sat on the chair and looked very 
happy to be home. 

Juggins put on a clean shirt and overalls for launching 


THE BOAT IS LAUNCHED 155 

day, and her zipper jacket, for the wind coming in through 
the window was cool. It was a fresh northwest wind, that 
had blown every bit of the fog away, and the sea and the sky 
were sparkling bright at last. 



“You shall have a new zipper jacket too, like Mr. 
Hoover,” said Juggins to Geraldine, as they both went into 
the kitchen. 

Daddy was not there, but the cereal was waiting on the 
table, and this morning Juggins did not feel lonesome a bit, 
with Geraldine sitting beside her on the chair. Before she 
had finished her cereal, there was the sound of scampering 


156 HERE’S JUGGINS 

across the grass, and there was Joey at the door, so excited 
and out of breath that he could hardly speak. 

“They’ve found heaps and heaps of lobsters hidden on 
Mad Cap,” cried Joey. “And the red scarf in the little hut 
over there, and they’ve found Jem Bass’s old dory tied some¬ 
where—and—and everything—and Granny’s going to give 
you the fifty dollars because you found the Red Robber, so 
now you can have your roof mended.” 

“You found the Red Robber too,” said Juggins, when 
Joey stopped for breath. 

“Yes,” said Joey, “but our roof doesn’t leak, so Granny 
and I think you better have it.” 

Juggins stared at Joey with round eyes. She could not 
take in so many strange things all at once. She was still staring 
when Daddy and Barney came in through the door. Daddy 
took a little piece of paper out of his pocket, and his smile 
was almost as wide as Geraldine’s. 

“That’s it!” said Joey, “That’s the check for the roof. 
I saw Granny write it. It’s like money.” 

Juggins ran to look, and there, sure enough, on the bit 
of paper were the words: “Fifty.Dollars.” 

“Well, what do you think of this for the person who 
found the Red Robber?” said Daddy, pinching her cheek. 



THE BOAT IS LAUNCHED 157 

Juggins took the check and looked at it. She did not feel 
at all the way she had thought she would if she had fifty dol¬ 
lars. She was thinking about the nice little game with the 
pans, that she and Daddy had always played when it 
rained. 

“Can’t we leave just two teeny-weeny little holes in the 
roof?” said Juggins to Daddy. 

Then Barney took something out of his pocket. Nice 
things always came out of Barney’s pockets, and this time 
it was a piece of blue ribbon, made of real silk. Mrs. Milly 
Willy had sent it, for Juggins to tie on her hair when she 
went to the launching. Juggins did not often have a real 
silk ribbon, and it made her almost as happy as the fifty 
dollars. She climbed on a chair in front of the kitchen mir¬ 
ror, and took off the old piece of blue cotton that tied up her 
yellow top-knot. Then she tied on the silk ribbon instead, 
and she made a nice square knot so that it would be sure not 
to come off. 

“Oh, dear,” sighed Juggins, looking at the ribbon in the 
glass, “I wish the launching was right away.” 

But the afternoon came at last, and she and Daddy started 
along the road to the end of the harbor. Ever so many other 
people were going too. Juggins could see them coming 


158 HERE’S JUGGINS 

down the path from the summer cottages, and trudging 

along the shore from the fishermen’s houses. 

When they reached Barney’s shed, there were a lot more 



people around the boat. They were all dressed in gay sum¬ 
mer clothes, and Juggins thought that it looked like a real 
party. Mr. Ted and Miss Cherry were there, and Mrs. Milly 
Willy, and Madame Eliot in her shimmery gray dress, hold- 








THE BOAT IS LAUNCHED 159 

ing Joey by the hand. As soon as Joey saw Juggins he came 
running to meet her. 

“Hello,” said Joey in an excited voice. Then he stood 
right in front of Juggins, as if he could not think of any¬ 
thing more to say. He looked exactly as if he knew a secret 
that he must not tell! 

“Come here, Joey,” said Madame Eliot, and Joey ran 
back to his Granny. 

Then Juggins and Daddy went into the shed and stood 
beside Barney, close by the boat. It looked more beautiful 
than ever to-day, gleaming white in the sunshine. There was 
a spray of blue flowers from Madame Eliot’s garden on the 
bow, under the little fairy figure, and Madame Eliot’s blue 
scarf was thrown across the boat, so that nobody could see 
the name until it was time for the launching. Juggins looked 
across at Joey, and wondered if he knew what was painted 
there, and if he would be happy and surprised. Juggins held 
her breath and waited, very still, beside Daddy. 

After a few minutes, when everybody was gathered 
around the boat, Juggins saw Madame Eliot nod her head 
at Mr. Ted. Then Mr. Ted stepped up close to the boat 
and everybody stopped talking. 

“I know we are all glad to be here,” said Mr. Ted, “to 


160 HERE’S JUGGINS 

see this beautiful boat go into the water. We hope she will 
bring the best of luck to her owner, for her owner is a fine, 
brave little fisherman. Madame Eliot has had the owner’s 
name painted on the boat, and I am going to ask Lucy Belle 
Tibbetts here to pull off this scarf, and read the name for us.” 

“Oh,” said Juggins, drawing back a little against Daddy, 
her face pink, for everybody was looking at her and smiling. 

But Mr. Ted held out his hand, and Juggins, her heart 
beating fast, went up to the boat and took hold of the scarf. 

“Be sure you say the name loud, so that we all can hear.” 
said Mr. Ted, in a laughing whisper. 

“Yes,” Juggins whispered back—and quickly pulled the 
scarf. 

Then for a moment there was not a sound in the shed. 
Everybody was still looking at Juggins, and Juggins was 
looking at what was painted on the boat. Her mouth was 
wide open, ready to speak, and her eyes were even wider 
than her mouth. But Juggins could not say a word, for Jolly 
Joey was no longer there. Painted on the boat instead was 
the name: 

LUCY BELLE 

Then all at once the silence was broken by Joey’s shrill 
little voice. Joey could not keep his secret any longer. 


/ 


THE BOAT IS LAUNCHED 161 

“The boat’s for you!” cried Joey, dropping Madame 
Eliot’s hand, and running over to Juggins. “From Granny 
and me, because you went after me in the dory!—Aren’t 
you glad?” said Joey, for Juggins stood still without mov¬ 
ing, her eyes on the boat. 

“Oh , yes,” said Juggins under her breath, and she looked 
at Madame Eliot with a funny little trembly smile. 

Then Mr. Ted picked Juggins up and set her right on the 
bow of her boat. 

“Three cheers for Captain Tibbetts!” said Mr. Ted, and 
they all cheered and waved their handkerchiefs at Juggins, 
who felt as if she must be in a dream. 

When Mr. Ted had lifted her down again, Barney and 
the other fishermen put their shoulders against the boat, 
and pushed and heaved, and in a minute the Lucy Belle was 
sliding down the little runway. Would she float? thought 
Juggins, standing between Daddy and Mr. Ted at the very 
edge of the shed, her hands clasped tight. 

Into the water, straight and smooth, went the Lucy Belle, 
and there she floated like a beautiful white swan, the little 
figure on the bow spreading its arms to the sea. Then every¬ 
body cheered again. 

“Now we can go to the green islands and way out to sea 


162 HERE’S JUGGINS 

—and everywhere,” shouted Joey, capering around so near 
the edge of the shed that he almost fell off into the water. 

“Hi there, you young scalawag,” said Mr. Ted, catching 
Joey just in time. “Who’s captain of that motor-boat any 
way!” 

Juggins looked at Mr. Ted. 

“My Daddy is,” she said, with a happy smile. And she 
put her hand in Daddy’s. 






6EV> 

euo' 




l-EFf " 
PEA PoO 
























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